Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka, Monika Roman - Sustainable Logistics - How To Address and Overcome The Major Issues and Challenges-Routledge - Productivity Press (2022)

Sustainable Logistics
Logistics refers to the processes that start with resources and their acquisition,
storage, and transportation to their destination. The concept is crucial in
business—particularly for the manufacturing sector—to understand, manage,
and control how resources are handled and progress through the whole supply
chain. Now, there is a strong trend to focus on sustainability and eco-friendly
solutions in logistics. Processes based on both technology and management
need innovations and detailed implementation steps to achieve a satisfactory
level of sustainability.
This book explores how and where innovations can be implemented to
provide a broad approach to sustainability in logistics. It addresses the main
challenges affecting modern and sustainable logistics and supply chains and is
organized according to six main themes: supply chain management; information
intelligent hubs (e.g., warehouses and cities); sustainable transportation;
technology for logistics; reverse logistics; and city logistics. The key results
presented are based on both extensive types of research and business cases.
The overarching advanced logistics and supply chain concepts at the heart of
this book contribute to a sustainable intelligent logistics and transport system
by making it more effcient, reliable, environmentally friendly, and competitive.
Essentially, this book presents the most current research related to
sustainability in logistics activities and addresses the theoretical background
of sustainability and its signifcance for logistics, the challenges in supply
chains and transportation, and possible solutions for more sustainable logistics
systems.
How to Address and Overcome the Major
Issues and Challenges
Edited by Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka,

Monika Roman
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka, Monika Roman;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka, Monika Roman to be identifed as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-032-30297-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-30296-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30436-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364
Typeset in Garamond
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................. vii

List of Tables .................................................................................... ix
Foreword by Wojciech J. Florkowski, PhD ....................................... xi
Foreword by Altuğ Murat Köktaş, PhD .......................................... xiii
Preface..............................................................................................xv
Editors ............................................................................................ xix
Contributors ................................................................................... xxi
SeCtion i innoVAtiVe AnD SUStAinABLe LoGiStiCS:

tHeoRetiCAL FoUnDAtionS
1 Innovative and Sustainable Logistics: Main Direction
of Development 3
KHURAM SHAHZAD, OSKAR JUSZCZYK, AND JOSU TAKALA
2 Modern Transportation Systems: The Field for Innovations

Implementation 29
ALEKSANDRA GÓRECKA
3 Green Warehousing: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review 43

JOANNA DOMAGAŁA
4 Reverse Logistics for Sustainable Waste-Management

Processes 73
ADAM SADOWSKI
SeCtion ii SUStAinABLe SUPPLY-CHAin MAnAGeMent

5 Should We Rethink Supply-Chain Management?
Insights from Global-Value-Chain Approach 101
MICHAŁ PIETRZAK
v
vi ◾ Contents
6 Intelligent Solutions in the Supply Chains: Challenges

for 3PL Providers 139
HELGA PAVLIĆ SKENDER, ELIZABETA RIBARIĆ, AND
PETRA ADELAJDA ZANINOVIĆ
7 Sustainability Requirements for Micro and Small

Food-Processing Companies 157
MARKO LUKAVAC AND DEJAN MILJENOVIC´
8 Sustainable Transport in the Fruit and Vegetable

Supply Chain 179
ANDREJ UDOVČ AND SANDRA BONČA
9 The Application of the Concept of Sharing Economy

in the Supply Chain 201
HELGA PAVLIĆ SKENDER, ZORAN JEŽIĆ, AND
SeCtion iii SUStAinABLe LoGiStiCS:

APPLiCAtionS AnD CHALLenGeS
10 Smart Logistics: Sustainable Distribution in the
Age of the Internet of Things 221
MARIA BAJAK
11 Digitalization in Transport: An Example of Transport

Documents 247
MONIKA ROMAN, PIOTR PIETRZAK, AND
SEBASTIAN STOLARCZYK
12 Going Green: The Effects of Decarbonization on

Container-Shipping Companies’ Competitiveness 265
LEONARDO LOVRIČIĆ, HELGA PAVLIĆ SKENDER, AND
13 The Organization of Transportation: City Rhythm and

Communication in Times of Telematic Transformation 285
IRENA JĘDRZEJCZYK
14 Food-Sharing Economy: Analysis of Selected Solutions

in the Warsaw Agglomeration 303
AGATA BALIŃSKA
Index ..............................................................................................327
Figures
1.1 A Conceptual Framework for Blockchain-Based Sustainable

Supply Chains 11
1.2 Supply Chain Transformation 12
3.1 Citations and Number of Publications Related to a Green
Warehouse in the Period 1990–2021 in WoS 50
3.2 Co-Word Cluster Map 58
4.1 Co-Citations Cluster Map 83
4.2 A Co-Word Cluster Map 85
5.1 Simplifed Diagram of a Value (Supply) Chain as an Economic
System 118
5.2 Relationship between Effciency and Other Orientors,
E.g., Security 125
6.1 Logistics Trend Radar (High Impact) 148
7.1 Direct-Store Model (DSM) 171
7.2 Central-Warehouse Model (CWM) 172
7.3 Inclusive and Partly Circular Model (IPCM) 173
9.1 Sharing-Economy Supply-Chain Network 207
9.2 Shared-Warehouse Business Model 211
10.1 The Importance of the Goals 234
10.2 The Model of Achieving Sustainable-Development Goals as a
Result of the Use of SMART Systems in Distribution 237
11.1 Authorizations for Entities Participating in the Transport
Implementation Process 255
12.1 A.P. Moller-Maersk Decarbonization Action Plan 271
12.2 A.P. Moller-Maersk CO2 Footprint 279
14.1 Components of the Collaborative Economy 309
14.2 Model of the Food-Sharing Process 321
vii
tables
2.1 The Examples of Innovations in the Aviation Sector 34

2.2 Innovations Addressing the Needs of the COVID-19 Crisis 36
2.3 Greenhouse-Gas Emissions of SAF 38
3.1 Basic Bibliometric Indicators 50
3.2 Fifteen Top Research Areas in the Green Warehouse 51
3.3 Most Productive Authors by the Number of Papers 52
3.4 Top Ten Cited Papers in the GW Literature 53
3.5 Scientifc Journals with the Largest Number of Publications
on GW Issues in the WoS Database 54
3.6 Spatial Distribution (by Country) of Authors Most Frequently
Publishing in the Area of the Green Warehouse 56
3.7 Institutions of Authors Most Frequently Publishing in the
Area of the Green Warehouse 56
4.1 Top Ten Subject Areas in Reverse Logistics 78
4.2 Top Ten Most Productive Journals in Reverse Logistics 79
4.3 The Most Productive Authors by the Number of Papers 81
4.4 Top Ten Cited RL Papers 82
5.1 Comparison of Neoclassical, SCM, and GVC Approaches to
Interorganizational Relationships 121
5.2 Supreme and Basic Orientors of the System and Matching
Environmental Properties 123
6.1 Levels of Automation 146
9.1 Sharing-Economy Characteristics 203
9.2 Possible Impacts of Sharing Economy 205
10.1 Sustainable Development Goals vs. the Triple Bottom Line
and Logistics 225
10.2 Review of Analyzed Solutions 231
ix
x ◾ Tables
10.3 Achievement of Sustainable-Development Goals Resulting from

Implemented Solutions in Case Research 233
11.1 Digitalization Defnitions (Note: the defnitions are presented
in chronological order) 250
11.2 Functionalities Are Carried Out by Individual Actors 253
11.3 Paper-Consignment-Note Administration Costs 257
11.4 Electronic-Consignment-Note Administration Costs 257
12.1 Four Priority Fuels for Net-Zero Shipping 273
13.1 Mobility and Collective Passenger Transport in Pszczyna
in 2021, in the Opinions of Experts, Users, and Contractors 297
14.1 Total Annual Food Waste Produced in Selected Countries 305
14.2 Research Stages 312
14.3 Frequency of Use and the Attitude of the Respondents to
Food-Sharing Points and Applications (in %) 313
14.4 The Relationship between Reasons for Using Food-Sharing
Facilities and Gender 315
14.5 Disposable Income per Person and the Reasons for Using
Food-Sharing Apps and Points (Spearman R) 315
14.6 The Use of Food-Sharing Points and Applications by
Selected Variables (Kruskal-Wallis Test) 316
14.7 Signifcance of Barriers to the Use of Food-Sharing Solutions
by Gender (Mann-Whitney Test) 318
14.8 Signifcance of Barriers to the Use of Food-Sharing Solutions
by Age, Household Size, and Disposable Income (Spearman R) 319
Foreword by Wojciech
J. Florkowski, PhD
The premise of sustainability has penetrated into every corner of social, pol-
icy, and economic activity. This outstanding book offered by a team of authors
from Polish, Slovenian, Croatian and Finnish universities tackles a timely issue
of supply logistics. Initiated by a team of editors from Warsaw University of
Life Sciences, Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka, and Monika Roman,
the collection of chapters tackles logistics as a dimension of sustainability that
has received piecemeal attention. Expanding trade stimulated research inter-
est in logistics, while also trying to reduce resource exploitation and mini-
mize detrimental environmental effects. Decision-making in logistics requires
understanding and application of solutions consistent with the sustainability
principle driven by policies and changing attitudes in society at large. Split
into three sections, the book directs attention to the theoretical foundations
of sustainable logistics, sustainable management of supply chains, and chal-
lenges faced in applying sustainable logistics in practice. Each part is a collec-
tion of chapters focused on modern-day issues.
Section I addresses innovative developments in sustainable logistics, trans-
portation, warehousing, and waste management. With logistics centers pop-
ping up in Central and Southern Europe, the underlying concepts of managing
distribution, storage, and waste generation and disposal are of utmost impor-
tance. Section II shifts the focus to supply-chain management by distinguish-
ing the global and micro-context. The section examines the newest technology
and use of autonomous vehicles and digital technology applications enhanc-
ing the fexibility of business models applied in supply chains. Recognizing
special logistical requirements, a chapter appraises pricing that internalizes
external transportation costs of fresh fruit and vegetables to improve sustain-
ability and competitiveness. Section III illustrates how sustainable logistics
xi
xii ◾ Foreword by Wojciech J. Florkowski, PhD
have or can be applied as well as major challenges. Those issues include the
use and infuence of digitalization and the internet on smart, sustainable logis-
tics, attempts to lower emissions through decarbonization in shipping, and the
potential of telematics to transform the urban landscape. A separate chapter
investigates the concept of food-sharing using the example of Warsaw, Poland,
anticipating positive food redistribution effects.
Sustainability requires continuous effort and adoption of innovative tech-
nologies as well as evolving practices if it is to make a difference in future
economies, and logistics plays an essential role in assuring sustainable pro-
duction and distribution. The emphasis on the unique dimension of sustain-
ability as it relates to supply logistics makes this book a timely contribution to
the literature. The book facilitates the understanding of options in sustainable
logistics and will make it a desired reading for students, managers, policy-
makers, and organizations pursuing a path to sustainable development and
growth.
Wojciech J. Florkowski, PhD

The University of Georgia, USA
Foreword by Altuğ
Murat Köktaş, PhD
In a globalized world with complex businesses, logistics is perceived as the

signifcant motor of international-goods exchange and people mobility. The
development of logistics processes infuences the goods fow and the fu-
ent passenger movement. On the other hand logistics processes, particularly
transportation, can cause several external effects on the environment.
Sustainable Logistics: How to Address and Overcome the Major Issues and
Challenges presents the importance of sustainable solutions in the main areas
of logistics, which are: Supply chain, transportation; warehouses; reversed
logistics; and city logistics. The increasing number of vehicles and their exploi-
tation affects the environment very intensely. This issue is described based on
different cases and sustainable city transportation, digitalization of transporta-
tion processes, and decarbonization of container maritime transport.
The trend to go green is underlined. The green logistics approach aims at
minimizing the negative infuence of logistics fows on the ecosystem. Authors
suggest innovative ways on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the
supply chain. Sustainable Supply-Chain Management (SSCM) in the context
of energy use is an important strategy that helps organizations achieve a
competitive advantage and improve overall performance, and therefore the
authors describe this issue too.
Apart from the standard logistics management and operational issues, the
authors also focus on the reactions of the logistics sector during the COVID-19
pandemic. Emerging problems related to the prohibition of the movement of
people and the need to adapt to the prevailing conditions of the transport of
goods changed the logistics sector, which did not escape the authors’ atten-
tion, and is widely described.
xiii
xiv ◾ Foreword by Altuğ Murat Köktaş, PhD
The book is an excellent example of a combination of academic knowl-

edge and business implementations as it includes the theoretical aspects of
shifting the main processes in the logistics and the supply chains into a higher
level of sustainability based on innovations implementation.
Altuğ Murat Köktaş

Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
Preface
Sustainable logistics is an important issue, which has caught the attention of

practitioners, academicians and researchers. Logistics refers to the processes
starting from resource acquisition, storage, and transportation to their fnal
destination. The concept is now broadly implemented in business, particu-
larly by enterprises in the manufacturing sectors to understand, manage and
control how resources are handled and moved along the whole supply chain.
In the 21st century, there is a strong trend to focus on sustainability and eco-
friendly solutions in logistics. The processes based on both technology and
management need innovative implementation to achieve a satisfactory level
of sustainability.
This book presents and discusses the main challenges posed by sustain-
able logistics in a manner relevant to both practitioners and scholars. It is
important to learn how companies should introduce the principles of sus-
tainable development in the area of logistics. The key fndings are based on
extensive research and business cases. The overarching advanced logistics
and supply-chain concept at the heart of this book endeavors to contribute
to a sustainable, intelligent logistics and transport system by making it more
effcient, reliable, environmentally friendly, and competitive.
This book aims to bring together the theory and practice of sustainable
logistics. It looks at the current state of sustainable logistics, including a com-
prehensive overview of both research and practical applications. The book is
divided into three parts: the frst covers theoretical foundations of innovative
and sustainable logistics, the second covers sustainable supply-chain manage-
ment, and the third covers applications and challenges in sustainable logistics.
Details of the chapters are summarized below.
The frst section contains four chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the main
direction of developing innovative and sustainable logistics. This chapter pri-
marily focuses on novel technologies such as IoT and blockchain that can
xv
xvi ◾ Preface
revolutionize the supply chain by eliminating the intermediaries and, conse-

quently, how frms operate, generate value, attract new customers and inves-
tors, etc. Chapter 2 presents the theoretical background of innovations and
their importance for modern transportation systems. Additionally, examples
of the technologies used in the aviation business in the 21st century are pre-
sented. Chapter 3 focuses on a systematic literature review of green ware-
housing. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview and classifcation of
the existing research on green warehousing, summarizes and synthesizes the
available knowledge on this topic, and identifes key trends, including green
warehouse management, the environmental impact of the warehouse build-
ing, and energy-saving initiatives in warehousing. In Chapter 4, following a
review of the literature and applied solutions described, the author identifes
the main research directions and ongoing changes in reverse logistics from a
sustainable waste-management perspective. Based on the conducted analysis,
thematic clusters were created in the research on reverse logistics.
The second section contains fve chapters. The aim of Chapter 5 is to
discuss the theoretical foundations of the global supply chains and critically
review the diversifed strands of literature underlying it. Particularly, the author
answers the following research questions: What is the genesis of the supply
chain and value chain concepts? what are the differences between the many
diversifed strands of literature underlying the chain concepts? and how well
can different strands of literature address the present need to incorporate
more resiliency and robustness into global supply chains? Chapter 6 dis-
cusses the applicability of autonomous vehicles in global supply chains based
on selected global 3PL leaders and determines the main benefts of imple-
menting autonomous vehicles in supply chains. The research methodology of
this chapter is based on desk research. Scientifc and professional literature is
used to prepare the theoretical framework, while the analytical part is based
on case studies of leading 3PL providers. The primary purpose of Chapter
7 is to present the positive impact of implementing optimal logistics models
in micro and small companies so that they can provide inbound logistics to
retail businesses and create sustainable value in the food industry. The chap-
ter discusses specifc problems of contemporary logistics effciency with an
analysis based on the COVID-19 environment, offering a sustainable distribu-
tion model in the food-processing industry as a national strategic branch. The
aim of Chapter 8 is to appraise the pricing of international transport of fresh
fruits and vegetables through the internalization of external costs as an essen-
tial indicator of sustainability. This chapter uses a systematic literature review,
and secondary and primary data. Chapter 9 shows the sharing-economy
Preface ◾ xvii
concept and its effects on economic growth and development with a particu-
lar focus on the supply-chain industry. Based on the case-study analysis of
international companies, the authors analyze the current application of the
sharing-economy practice in the supply-chain industry and forecast the pos-
sible prospect of its impact from the business perspective and the perspective
of economic growth and development.
The third section contains fve chapters. The aim of Chapter 10 is to pres-
ent assumptions of sustainable logistics with the use of Internet-of-Things solu-
tions. In the framework of undertaken discussion, an analysis of the practical
implementations of this type of system is carried out. Solutions from the area of
land, water, and air transport are compared. Chapter 11 presents the impor-
tance of the digitalization of transport documentation in logistics companies.
The process is described in the example of the GreenTransit system. This plat-
form is used to digitalize all documentation occurring in the transport process.
The primary purpose of Chapter 12 is to assess the prospects of the green
initiative combined with the perspective of container carriers’ implementa-
tion of greenhouse gas-reduction strategy and investigate the impact of these
regulations on carriers’ competitiveness. Based on the recent scientifc and
professional research papers, the authors frame the theoretical background of
the topic, while the analytical part is based on the interviews with employers
related to the greenhouse gas-reduction operations and case-study analysis.
Chapter 13 presents a multi-aspect analysis of suburban transportation. This
chapter determines the infuences of auto telematics transformation on the risk
of driving, risk management, driving behavior, time of day, driving location,
and the functioning of the city. The aim of Chapter 14 is to present the per-
ception and experience of dwellers regarding food-sharing locations and food-
sharing applications. The research used analyzed source materials and the
CAWI method. The chapter shows the popularity of the applications, themes,
and obstacles to their use.
This book provides the theoretical background and practical issues related
to sustainable logistics. The editors believe that the collection of chapters is
relevant and benefcial to the needs of professionals, researchers, and post-
doctoral and graduate students. The authors of this book try to stimulate new
research directions, and show the issues and challenges related to sustainable
logistics. It brings together conceptual thinking and empirical research on the
nature, meaning, and perspectives of sustainable logistics.
editors
Joanna Domagała, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of

Logistics, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life
Sciences (WULS). The main felds of her scientifc interest are enterprise eff-
ciency, internationalization, globalization of the food industry sectors, logistics
systems in agribusiness, management, and planning of logistics in enterprises,
and supply-chain management. She is the author or co-author of more than
150 scientifc publications. She has participated in foreign internships at the
University of Georgia (USA) and Shanghai Ocean University (China). She has
been a reviewer and a guest co-editor for many international journals. She is
a member of the Polish Logistics Society, European Association of Agricultural
Economists, and Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness. She
is the head of Postgraduate Studies in Logistics.
Monika Roman, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Logistics,

Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS).
Her research interests include several topics: Spatial economies, agricultural
economics, quantitative methods, transport, logistics systems in agribusiness,
and optimization of logistics processes in enterprises. She is the author or
co-author of more than 60 scientifc publications. She has participated in for-
eign internships at University College Cork (Ireland), the National University
of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, and the Czech University of
Life Sciences Prague. She has been a reviewer and a guest co-editor for sev-
eral international journals. She is a member of the Polish Logistics Society,
Polish Society of Production Management, and Association of Agricultural
Economists and Agribusiness.
Aleksandra Górecka, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of

Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS). Her
main feld of research is transport infrastructure, transport economics, and
xix
xx ◾ Editors
economic development. She participated in more than 30 mobilities (e.g.,

Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic), and numerous national
and international conferences, hence her scientifc relations allowed her to
contribute to international joined research. She is the author or co-author of
over 40 papers and three research books. She was also the reviewer of many
Polish and foreign journals.
Contributors
Maria Bajak is an assistant at the Department of Marketing of the Cracow

University of Economics, Poland. Her research focuses on the use of the
Internet of Things in marketing communication, sustainable development, and
social marketing. She gained her professional experience, among others, in an
IT company, where she had practical contact with projects concerning digital
technologies in business. For her scientifc activity during her master’s studies,
she was awarded the title of fnalist in the Student Nobel Prize competition in
2020. She is an author of numerous publications on marketing communica-
tion, new technologies in business, and corporate social responsibility.
Agata Balińska, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Economics

and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS). Her scientifc
research concerns the development of tourism, territorial development, con-
sumer behavior, and the sharing economy. She is the author and co-author
of over 140 scientifc publications, including: Experiences of Polish Tourists
Traveling for Leisure Purposes during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sustainability
2021; Pro-Environmental Forms of Transport in the Experience and Perception
of Tourists Visiting Warsaw, Journal of Environmental Management and
Tourism, 2020, (iii) Sharing economy in the tourism economy: theoretical and
empirical context, 2021, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, ISBN 978-83-
8237-009-6, 126 pp.-monography.
Sandra Bonča, PhD, holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics

and a Ph.D. in the economics of renewable natural resources. She is currently
working in the private sector.
Zoran Ježić, PhD, is an associate professor, at the Faculty of Economics

and Business in Rijeka and relates to the courses National Economy, Human
Resource Management, Economics of Education, and Economic Growth and
xxi
xxii ◾ Contributors
Development. He is a regular member and chairman of the Supervisory Board

of the Croatian Economic Association (ZDE), a member of the Croatian sec-
tion of the European Regional Science Association, the Alumni Association
of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Rijeka and chairman of the
Technical Board of the certifcation program Business Friendly Certifcation
South East Europe (BFC SEE), which awards a certifcate for an entrepreneur-
friendly environment to cities and municipalities in South East Europe.
Irena Jędrzejczyk, PhD, is a full professor of economic science. She has

had many years of experience in teaching, research, and administration. Her
feld of interest has been the economy, business management, fnances, and
investment. She earned her MA and her PhD at the University of Economics
in Cracow, Poland and she completed her Habilitation and her professorship
at the University of Economics in Katowice—Silesia. She spent many years
as a research scholar at the University in Trier, Germany, and the University
of Zurich, Switzerland. She was frst appointed as head of the Educational
Centre of Insurance and Risk management, coordinator and project manager
of JEP No 11015 TEMPUS PHARE, head of the Department of Insurances
Market Studies at the University of Economics in Katowice—Silesia, head of
Branche of Finance Markets Studies at the University of Life Sciences, Warsaw,
coordinator and project manager of JEP No: DKS/DEF-III/ POPT/04/185/08.
Since 2017, Professor Je˛drzejczyk has worked as researcher and teacher at
the Management Department, Faculty of Management and Transport, the
University of Bielsko-Biała in Silesia, Poland.
Oskar Juszczyk is a PhD student in the Industrial Management Department

at the School of Technology and Innovations of the University of Vaasa. He
holds an MSc in Economics and Organization of Enterprises from Warsaw
University of Life Sciences (WULS-SGGW), Poland, and Paris 13 Sorbonne
University, France. His main research focus is the commercialization of renew-
able energy technologies, energy transition policies, innovative energy tech-
nologies related to digitalization, strategic and operational management tools
as well as the intersectoral collaboration supporting the implementation of
sustainable energy solutions.
Leonardo Lovričić is a master of economics in International Business with

further intention to enroll in PhD studies. Employed within Liburnia Group as
Logistics Manager, with special focus on international shipping and chartering,
dealing with standardized and heavy-lift cargo globally. His research interests
are in the area of automatization and digitalization processes in shipping, with
Contributors ◾ xxiii
the highlight on blockchain technologies and environmentally responsible

business practices.
Marko Lukavac is a PhD student at the Faculty of Economics and Business,

University of Rijeka, Croatia. At frst, he worked as a teaching assistant at
the Department of Economics at the University of Zadar in order to acquire
new skills and knowledge as a base for future academic development,
and now he is setting up a private consultant business in the felds of
accounting and EU funds. He is additionally occupied with managing a
family business with a tradition of more than three decades in the segment
of the food-processing industry. He continues his Ph.D. in economics which
he treats as the link and catalyst between the business and policymakers’
needs and expectations. His research focuses on equal and sustainable
development opportunities for society, and he has published several scien-
tifc papers in this feld.
Dejan Miljenović, PhD, is an assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics

and Business at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. He is referred to as a social
economist specializing in socioeconomic sustainability. Within the Erasmus
program, he is a regular visiting professor at the University of Ljubljana, School
of Economics and Business, and an editor of journals specializing in the topic
of Sustainability Economics, making additional effort to actively bring this
actualized topic regularly to business practice, managers and students. His
feld of research includes analysis of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Stakeholder
Management, Sustainable Value Added (SVA), Social Entrepreneurship, and
analysis, recently being a scientifc consultant for the issues of business carbon
effciency in the sector of logistics and energy facilitation.
Helga Pavlić Skender, PhD, is an associate professor at the Faculty of

Economics and Business in Rijeka, Croatia. Her feld of work relates to the
courses Business Logistics, International Forwarding and Logistics, and
Transport and Maritime Economics. Her research interest covers the area of
transportation, international logistics, and supply chains.
Michał Pietrzak is a full professor at Warsaw University of Life Sciences,

Institute of Economics and Finance. He is an economist and strategic man-
agement researcher and practitioner. He is the vice-chairman of the commit-
tee responsible for the strategy of this university. His main areas of interest
include economics (in particular: New institutional economics and hybrid
organizations, e.g., cooperatives, chains, and networks,) as well as strategic
xxiv ◾ Contributors
management, organizational learning, and logistics. His consultancy experi-

ence covers strategic analyses, strategy development, and Balanced Scorecard
implementation for many industries and sectors, e.g., automotive, energy,
chemistry, professional services, municipal services, public agencies, and uni-
versities. He was also Head of the MBA program and postgraduate studies for
many years.
Piotr Pietrzak, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Warsaw University of Life

Sciences (WULS—SGGW), in the Management Institute. His research interests
include several topics: Public management, effciency measurement, strategic
management, process management, and digital management. He is the author
of over 70 articles and four books. He has published work in journals such
as the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, Human Systems
Management, and Foundations of Management.
Elizabeta Ribarić holds a master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics

and Business at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. Her research interest covers
the area of sustainable supply chains and modern technologies.
Adam Sadowski, PhD, is an associate professor in logistics at the Institute

of Logistics and Informatics of the University of Lodz. He received his Ph.D.
in economics at the University of Lodz, Poland. His research interests include
reverse logistics, supply-chain management, supply-chain digitalization, mili-
tary logistics, and simulation issues. His work has been published in such
journals as Electronic Commerce Research, Journal of Big Data, International
Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, and others.
Khuram Shahzad, PhD, is an assistant professor of Digital Innovation

Management at the School of Technology and Innovations/InnoLab Research
Platform of the University of Vaasa in Finland. His research interests focus on
digital technologies and innovations, open innovation, R&D and innovation
ecosystems, blockchain, digital transformation, and supply-chain manage-
ment. His research work has been published in several journals of interna-
tional repute.
Sebastian Stolarczyk holds a bachelor’s degree in logistics from Warsaw

University of Life Science. He started his adventure in the logistics indus-
try at secondary school, from which he graduated with the title of Logistics
Technician, the EPICOR ISCALA certifcate in company logistics management,
and the international ELA certifcate. He studies Finance and Accounting at
Contributors ◾ xxv
the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. He is a cofounder of the start-up

GreenTransit, which created a platform for the digitalization of transportation
documents. His responsibilities include seeking new ways of development,
fnances, and current activities.
Josu Takala has experience in the industry from ABB 1979–1992 and
academia. He graduated from Tampere University of Technology M.Sc in 1980
and PhD in 1988, PhD HC 2009 from Technical University of Košice, Slovakia,
and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 2015. He has been a Professor in
Industrial Management at the University of Vaasa, Finland since 1988, and vis-
iting/adjunct professor in various universities in Finland and abroad. His feld
is decision-making on operative sustainable competitive strategies. He has
650 scientifc articles, Co- and Special-Issue Editorships, he has been invited
as Speaker and Chairman in conferences, he participates in activities within
university-society relationships and programs, and he possesses ownerships
in about ten startups.
Andrej Udovč is a full professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural

Development at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana. He is the
head of the Chair for Agrometheorology, Agricultural land management,
Agricultural Economics, and Rural Development. His main research interests
pertain to farm management, the coexistence of rural economies and high-
value natural landscapes, and common-pool resources management.
Petra A. Zaninović, PhD, is a researcher and teaching assistant, Faculty

of Economics and Business, at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. She has
participated in several international scientifc conferences and published arti-
cles in scientifc journals in the feld of economics and business. Her research
interests are in the area of trade logistics and supply chains.
innoVAtiVe AnD i
SUStAinABLe
LoGiStiCS
Theoretical Foundations
Chapter 1
innovative and Sustainable

Logistics: Main Direction
of Development
Khuram Shahzad, Oskar Juszczyk, and Josu Takala
School of Technology and Innovations, University of Vaasa, Finland
Contents
1.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................3
1.2 Literature Review .......................................................................................6
1.2.1 Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chains ...............................6
1.2.2 Blockchain Technology .................................................................8
1.3 Conceptual Framework ...........................................................................10
1.3.1 Blockchain-Based Supply Chains ................................................11
1.3.2 Blockchain and Sustainability......................................................14
1.3.3 Blockchain as a Governance Mechanism ...................................16
1.3.4 Challenges and Barriers to Adopting Blockchain in
the Supply Chain ........................................................................ 17
1.3.5 Overcoming the Challenges ........................................................20
1.4 Conclusions and Future Development Directions .................................22
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................23
References.........................................................................................................23
1.1 introduction
The current image of the supply chains appears to be increasingly complex,
where multinational business entities compete to gain their share of the market
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-2 3
4 ◾ Sustainable Logistics
(Saberi et al., 2019). The globalization of supply chains which has resulted in a
“fat world” (Friedman, 2005) makes this network even more intricate because
of divergent regulations as well as various customer behavioral patterns. This
complexity causes diffculties in information and risk management, where
fraudulent practices cause challenges in terms of trust. Therefore, there is a
necessity of increasing the excellence of information distribution and transpar-
ency (Ivanov et al., 2018).
Such trackability of the whole production and logistics process is becoming
a requirement for the growing share of environmentally conscious stakehold-
ers and end customers. It can make a radical change in the competitive advan-
tage of a given company, especially in the sectors of agriculture (Kamilaris et
al., 2019; Kamble et al., 2020), medicine (Rotunno et al., 2014; Radanović &
Likić, 2018), energy (Andoni et al., 2019; Teufel et al., 2019), or luxurious goods
(Maurer, 2017).
It is challenging to achieve it in the modern supply chains, which are
formed in centralized management-information systems, such as enterprise
resource planning (ERP), that are imperfect in terms of reliability. Such cen-
tralized information systems rely heavily on trust given to a single authority
for processing and storing valuable and sensitive data, which makes them sus-
ceptible to malfunction, cyberattacks, or even corruption (Dong et al., 2017).
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing pressure from all sec-
tors of society on supply chains to follow the idea of sustainability. Therefore,
sustainable supply chains should generate added value according to the triple-
bottom-line approach that proposes harmony in consideration of economic,
societal, and environmental aspects (Elkington, 1998, 2004). Following that
concept, organizations perceive sustainability as a fundamental principle of
smart management (Savitz & Weber, 2006), and following the triple-bottom-
line strategy can not only beneft the natural environment and society but can
provide long-lasting economic prosperity and a competitive advantage for the
company (Carter & Rogers, 2008). However, in order to successfully achieve
sustainable practices, there is a need to confrm and verify the processes,
activities, and end-products that follow the specifc sustainability criteria and
proofs for such actions. Moreover, the triple bottom line comes with its sup-
porting facets of sustainability that can serve companies to improve the qual-
ity of their risk management, transparency, strategy, and culture (Gladwin et
al., 1995; Hart, 1995).
Hence, there is a need for better information sharing within the supply
chains, which are currently not fully capable of supporting data required
for the timely provenance of goods and services in a safe manner that is
Main Direction of Development ◾ 5
comprehensible and solid enough to ensure trust. Consequently, the future-

oriented supply chains should improve their transparency, reliability, resil-
ience, and operations integrity (Sivula et al., 2021). The solution that may
provide such features could be blockchain technology. The application of
such an innovative technology makes these improvement targets more logis-
tically, economically, and technologically feasible (Abeyratne & Monfared,
2016). Blockchain, by being a distributed “trustless” database, is a disrup-
tive technology that enhances global-scale transactions as well as opera-
tion decentralization amidst different supply chain actors and could make a
critical—perhaps even revolutionary—impact on supply-chain management
(Helo, 2020).
There have been already several applications of blockchain in different
industries that have improved the transparency, integrity, and interoperability
of the performed transactions. From a sustainable supply-chain-management
point of view, the example of Provenance can be mentioned, which is a
provider of blockchain technology in the seafood sector. In this specifc sup-
ply chain, the visibility and legitimacy of sustainable standards are decisive
(Steiner & Baker, 2015). The use cases show the potential applications of
blockchain have been deliberated broadly in the professional, academic, and
popular literature in terms of the topics related to environmental, economic,
or societal performance dimensions.
Even though there is a growing number of use cases over the recent
years, blockchain technology, as it is highly disruptive in nature, faces many
challenges for its widespread implementation within global supply chain
systems. While being in its infancy stage of development, blockchain is
restricted by multifarious barriers of, for example, behavioral, structural,
technological, or regulatory aspects. These numerous bottlenecks as well as
measures to overcome them will be discussed more thoroughly later in this
chapter.
The main goal of this chapter is to estimate the potential of blockchain
technology applicability in the sustainable supply-chain-management theory
and practice. In order to do so, we will introduce the main features of block-
chain technology frst. Then, we will discuss the possible benefts coming
from its implementation by supply chains and how it could revolutionize
the current outlook of supply-chain management, based on current litera-
ture. Further on, we provide a conceptual framework for blockchain-based
sustainable supply chains. We will focus specifcally on sustainable supply
chains and how blockchains could positively impact sustainable practices.
This will be followed by the presentation of various barriers to the adoption
of blockchain in sustainable supply chains together with the proposition of

several actions to tackle these challenges. Lastly, we will conclude the Chapter
with its theoretical and practical implications as well as the direction toward
future development.
1.2 Literature Review

To provide the conceptual background for this chapter, the review of the
existing literature is presented to shed light on the concepts of sustainability
in logistics and supply-chain management. Then, basic features of blockchain
technology and its potential impact on the supply chains and more, specif-
cally on the concept of sustainable supply-chain management, are discussed.
1.2.1 Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chains

The most commonly used defnition of sustainability is developed by
Brundtland Commission: “Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”
This broad concept includes recognizing the environmental impact of busi-
ness activities all over the world (Erlich & Erlich, 1991), providing global
food security (Lal et al., 2002), fulflling basic human needs (Savitz & Weber,
2006), or enhancing the preservation of nonrenewable resources (Whiteman &
Cooper, 2000). Such a macroeconomic perspective causes challenges in its
understanding and application by organizations, where their specifc situa-
tion affects the determination of present and future needs. Moreover, it pro-
vides limited guidance for the frms on how to decide which technological
and organizational resources are necessary to meet those needs, and to eff-
ciently balance cooperation liabilities with stakeholders within and outside
of the company—including society and the natural environment (Hart, 1995;
Starik & Rands, 1995). Furthermore, it is troublesome for the companies to
establish their distinctive roles in such a broad concept (Stead & Stead, 1996).
Therefore, a more microeconomic approach was introduced in the opera-
tions management and engineering literature by mainly considering the envi-
ronmental dimension of sustainability, with limited apprehension of societal
and economic aspects (Shrivastava, 1995; Starik & Rands, 1995). Still, this
viewpoint continues a long-term perspective of sustainability, as Shrivastava
(1995) depicts sustainability as providing the “potential for reducing long-
term risks associated with resource depletion, fuctuations in energy costs,
product liabilities, as well as pollution and waste management.” Interestingly,

the engineering literature proves more inclusive, and has directly consid-
ered all three dimensions of sustainability, claiming that organizational sus-
tainability is “a wise balance among economic development, environmental
stewardship, and social equity,” (Sikdar, 2003) which includes “equal weight-
ings for economic stability, ecological compatibility and social equilibrium”
(Góncz, 2007).
In the context of supply-chain management from the logistics perspective,
authors have scrutinized particular societal and environmental issues, such
as environmental-logistics strategies, environmental purchasing, improvement
of fuel effciency, limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in transport, the
safety of various means of transportation, etc. More lately, Carter and Jennings
(2002) have provided a conceptual framework for integrating environmen-
tal and social issues within a theory of Logistics Social Responsibility (LSR),
which relates to the issues discussed previously, such as natural environ-
ment, human rights, safety, etc., to the logistics management feld. They fol-
low their research by including purchasing impact of LSR, which they call
Purchasing Social Responsibility (PSR). According to their defnition, PSR is a
second-tier concept composed of frst-tier dimensions discussed earlier, which
are: Environment, safety, diversity, philanthropy, and human rights (Carter &
Jennings, 2004). Although there are numerous defnitions of sustainable logis-
tics, the foundations have always focused mainly on environmental and/or
social aspects, leaving the economic dimension unconsidered.
Having that in mind, the triple-bottom-line concept emerged including
three components of environmental, societal, and economic value creation,
where each of them is considered simultaneously from the microeconomic
perspective (Elkington, 1998, 2004). This seminal theory has shed new light
on the theory of sustainability and is still present in the literature as a founda-
tion for future concepts.
Next, we are going to discuss the notion of supply-chain management,
which was described by Mentzer et al. (2002) as “the systemic, strategic coor-
dination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these busi-
ness functions within a particular company and across businesses with the
supply chains, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of
the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole,” whereas Lambert
(2006) perceives it as “the integration of key business processes from end-user
through original suppliers that provides products, services, and information
that add value for customers and other stakeholders.” Basing on these clas-
sifcations and by including the elements of sustainability discussed above,
Carter and Rogers (2008) defne sustainable supply-chain management (SSCM)

as “the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organization’s
social, environmental, and economic goals in the systemic coordination of key
inter-organizational business processes for improving the long-term economic
performance of the individual company and its supply chains.” This defnition
also strictly relates to the triple-bottom-line concept and the previously men-
tioned supporting features of sustainability—risk management, transparency,
strategy, and culture.
1.2.2 Blockchain Technology

Blockchain (or distributed ledger technology—DLT) is a technology that
ensures digital information distribution in a shared database that con-
tains a continuously expanding log of transactions and their chronological
order. In other words, it is a ledger that may contain digital transactions,
data records, and executables that are shared among blockchain participat-
ing agents (Nakamoto, 2008; Andoni, 2019). Blockchain technology is distinct
from other previously known information systems by its four main features:
Non-localization (decentralization), security, auditability, and smart execution
(Teufel et al., 2019). It is a highly innovative technology that is the result of a
decade’s efforts from “an elite group of computer scientists, cryptographers,
and mathematicians” (Tucker, 2019).
The basic process within blockchains is structured as follows. First, the agent
creates a new transaction to be included in the blockchain. This freshly created
transaction is shared with the network for verifcation and auditing. When the
transaction is approved by the majority of nodes based on predetermined and
multilaterally established rules, this activity can be transferred to the chain as a
new block. A record of that transaction is stored in several distributed nodes to
ensure security. In the meantime, the smart contract, as a crucial component of
blockchain, facilitates trustworthy transactions to be conducted without third
parties’ involvement (Cong & He, 2019; Saberi et al., 2019).
To show the substantial change in current information systems, a compari-
son with the Internet could help the readers to realize the potential impact
of blockchain technology on existing structures. Principally, the Internet (as
opposed to blockchain), was designed to transfer information (not value) as
well as to process and relocate copies of things (not original information).
Therefore, in blockchains, value is generated through transactions recorded in
a distributed ledger which is secured by arranging a verifable, time-stamped
record of transactions, which results in secure and auditable information
(Arora & Arora, 2018). These digital transactions go through a verifcation

process that is agreed upon by the network consensus rules. When the new
record passes this whole process, it is verifed and included in the blockchain,
and then multiple copies are generated in a distributed way to form a trust-
worthy chain.
One of the most essential features of blockchain is decentralization, which
signifcantly increases information validity. Adding, updating, or removing
information in the centralized information systems is not only ineffcient and
costly, but such systems are more vulnerable to hacking, corruption, or criti-
cal errors (Casino, 2019). Blockchain, by providing decentralized information
sharing systems, signifcantly improves trust of the performed transactions,
as there is no longer a need to estimate the credibility of the middlemen
(who are removed) or of any parts of transactions in that network, and this
information is easily accessible and verifed. This results in another substan-
tial beneft coming from blockchain utilization, which is the transparency
of information whilst protecting the anonymity of participants, e.g., through
cryptographic systems (Wang et al., 2019). Moreover, this structure allows lim-
iting any human or behavioral misconduct such as dishonesty or sluggishness,
ensuring the integrity of the system.
Determined by a specifc technology application, blockchain construc-
tion can be contrasting when forming public (permissionless) or private
(permissioned) information systems and ledgers. Both public and private
blockchain networks are decentralized and distributed between their users
to track all peer-to-peer transactions without the intermediary customarily
trusted to authorize them (Yang et al., 2020). However, in private or closed
blockchains, the partners know each other and there is no anonymity, which
creates a need to introduce certifers who are responsible for certifying
network participants and maintaining these private networks. In public or
open blockchains, cryptographic methods are applied to ensure trust among
many anonymous users to allow them to access the network and perform
operations inside of it. To continue this comparison, let us discuss a few
key differentiating aspects. Private blockchains have higher transaction pro-
cessing rates with fewer authorized participants. Therefore, a shorter time
is needed to achieve the network consensus and more transactions can be
processed within a second. By contrast, public blockchains have a signif-
cantly limited transaction processing rate. The consensus mechanisms such
as Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) in public blockchains require the entire
network to reach a consensus on the state of transactions. Moreover, public
blockchains’ information privacy is more prone to risk due to their inherent
nature. Alternatively, private blockchains have stronger data security founda-

tions where any modifcation can be made basically when all nodes agree
that the data can be transformed by the consensus mechanism (Yang et al.,
2020).
In the meantime, the innovative transactional applications that enhance
trust, transparency, and auditability are possible through blockchain applica-
tions, and these applications are ruled by smart contracts. Smart contracts
are software solutions for storing principles and regulations during the nego-
tiation of terms and actions between participants. It serves to automatically
verify if preestablished rules and conditions have been fulflled, and then
executes transactions. Smart contracts could mitigate informational asymme-
try and expand welfare and consumer surplus through enhanced access and
competition, yet distributing information during consensus generation might
encourage larger complicity (Cong & He, 2019).
Blockchain has gained popularity as a trading platform for Bitcoin, which
is a digital cryptocurrency (Nakamoto, 2008). However, it has been spread
across different industries as a tool for improvement in computing and infor-
mation-fow aspects, also with numerous implications for innovative supply
chains and logistics (Abeyratne & Monfared, 2016; Maurer, 2017; Cole et al.,
2019, Pournader et al., 2020). Therefore, we will discuss the applications of
blockchain in supply chains and possible multidimensional benefts coming
from blockchain technology implementation.
1.3 Conceptual Framework

In this section, we will present a conceptual foundation for the chapter. Based
on the literature review, we provide insight into blockchain-based sustainable
supply chains. The whole process of building the framework is depicted in
Figure 1.1.
In order to perform deductive reasoning, we will start with the applications
of blockchain technology in supply chains. Next, we will apply blockchain
technology into the context of sustainability, which will strongly support and
directly lead us to the central concept of sustainable supply-chain management
implementing blockchain. Because of its automation and decentralization, we
will discuss the idea of blockchain as a governance mechanism as well.
Lastly, as it is an emerging technology in its early stages of development
and practical application, we will examine the main barriers and challenges
Figure 1.1 A Conceptual Framework for Blockchain-Based Sustainable Supply Chains.

Source: Own elaboration.
to a widespread blockchain implementation in supply chains. This whole

process will help us to critically review the pros and cons of deploying block-
chain in sustainable supply chains as well as limitations in the recent litera-
ture which will allow us to propose future directions for research and further
development of that concept in theory and practice.
1.3.1 Blockchain-Based Supply Chains

Blockchain, as a highly innovative technology, can provide new solutions for
the structure, operations, and management of supply chains. Its capability of
ensuring dependability, traceability, and validity of information, as well as
connection with smart contracts creating a trustless environment for transac-
tions could result in major alterations in the current image and understanding
of modern and future supply chains. This possibly revolutionary impact can
be seen in Figure 1.2.
Dissimilar to certain public blockchain applications like Bitcoin or Ethereum,
blockchain-based supply chains might require a closed, private, permissioned
blockchain with multiple participants. However, the possibility of open, public,
permissionless blockchains may still be possible and thus, the determination of
privacy level will be one of the key initial decisions (Saberi, 2019).
Primarily, new actors’ groups might appear to support blockchain integra-
tion into supply chains. According to Abeyratne and Monfared (2016), there
would be a need to include:
Figure 1.2 Supply Chain transformation.

Source: Adapted from Saberi et al., 2019.
1) registrars, who form unique identities to network participants,

2) standards organizations, which develop standards frameworks, policies,
and technological criteria,
3) certifers, who give certifcations to supply chain network participants, and
4) actors, containing producers, retailers, or end-customers, that need to be
certifed by an authorized auditor or certifer to ensure the system’s trust.
Moreover, the infuence of blockchain on supply-chain material and prod-

uct fows can be observed as well. Each product could have a digital block-
chain existence so that all interested participants would have direct access to
product details. For security measures, only authorized users of blockchain
would have that access through the digital key. The information about the
materials or products could be of a different nature, such as their ownership
and localization status, type, origin, or quality. Each product would have a
digital information tag that connects the physical compound with its virtual
identity in blockchain (Pournader et al., 2020).
Especially important in the context of ownership, access to the trading

platforms granted to certifed actors may be an important rule, whereas
getting that access might require smart contract agreements and consen-
sus mechanisms. Before the ownership is changed (by a sale or transfer),
both sides would sign a digital contract or meet the standards of the
smart contract to validate the transaction. After performing this exchange,
its details are updating the blockchain register. Blockchain provides the
automatic update of transactional data once the transaction is performed,
which leads us to another important feature of blockchain—cost- and
time-effcient automation of processes within supply chains (Abeyratne &
Monfared, 2016).
As already mentioned, blockchain can provide detailed information on key
product characteristics, such as the nature (what it is), the quality (how good
it is), the quantity (how many units are available), the location (where it is) and
the ownership (who owns it at any time). In that context, blockchain removes
the need for a trusted central organization in these processes and provides
the access to direct, verifable, and constantly updated information about the
product across its life cycle.
Blockchain, by providing reliability and transparency, facilitates material
and information fow across the supply chain, with distributed and automated
governance exigencies. This may cause an essential alteration from an indus-
trial, product-oriented economy to an information and customization-centered
economy. It is claimed that products will be more dependent on knowledge
and information sharing rather than on components’ features (Pazaitis et al.,
2017). This can also result in increased customers’ trust, as they could verify
all the necessary information about the given product.
Smart contracts, being a set of pre-agreed rules, facilitates information fow
between the participants of a blockchain-based supply chain. A smart con-
tract can manage actors’ certifcation, by providing precise and up-to-date
information on access statutes, requirements, and limitations for a particular
participant. The current state of rules cannot be changed without consensus
mechanisms. Smart contracts can be useful in procurement as well, because
of their ability to legally update the automated record of the transactions
between trading partners. Therefore, smart contracts have a huge potential to
provide substantial business process improvements in supply chains (Saberi,
2019).
To conclude this section, blockchains could bring many benefts to the
supply-chain management, by impacting process and product management
as well as fnancial transactions between supply-chain participants. A main
possible utility of blockchain in supply chains is the removal of the middlemen

from the transaction processes, and providing new trading possibilities which
would boost the effciency of trading processes between business partners
and allow cost reduction of the end product, which could result in substantial
savings (Fanning & Centers, 2016; Kamilaris, 2019). Lastly, the automation of
fnancial transactions through smart contracts would facilitate their security,
interoperability, and integrity as preestablished fnancial management mecha-
nisms would allocate the funds to specifc projects and departments in a well-
timed and cost-effective manner, through their ability to mix currencies and
resources in the optimized way (Tapscott & Tapscott, 2017).
1.3.2 Blockchain and Sustainability

As part of increasing environmental awareness in general on a global scale,
organizations are heading towards sustainability which, besides environmen-
tal goals such as pollution reduction, also involves care for economic and
social sectors as part of an overall strategy to improve organizational opera-
tions and their performance in the supply chain. Thus, sustainable supply-
chain management offers several benefts to all participants by adopting more
effcient production and transportation means, and reducing delays and costs.
However, achieving sustainability has been limited due to inherent ineffcien-
cies in traditionally oriented processing involving data and material fows such
as inaccurate data, material waste, and the inability to meet requirements
involving supply and demand in terms of quality, quantity, and timing, in par-
ticular for those of end-customers. This has resulted in the centralized nature
of supply chains, with a lack of transparency and traceability across organiza-
tions. Therefore, as a technological solution, blockchain can be leveraged to
deliver benefts, for example, tracking the origin of raw materials, production
locations, product carriers, storage, and retailers which can be done using IoT
combined solutions (Juszczyk & Shahzad, 2022). It allows to hold employees
and ultimately businesses with their supply chains accountable by providing
visibility into its tamper-resistant ledger. Such solutions enable decentralized
systems, peer-to-peer trading of natural resources and permits, supply-chain
monitoring and origin tracking, new fnancing models such as democratizing
investment, and realization of nonfnancial value such as natural capital (Dorri
et al., 2017; Tian, 2017).
Blockchain enables effcient tracking and transparency of defective and
substandard goods (Saberi et al., 2019). It also helps to verify the prove-
nance of a product and related sustainability practices, that is, if there are
any fraudulent and unethical labor practices involved (Nyman, 2019). Such
possibility of effcient tracking also helps to track the sustainability of sup-
ply chains, for example by calculating the carbon footprints of the products
(Saberi et al., 2019). The verifable and transparent management of resources
enables an increase in the environmental sustainability of the supply chain.
This could be maintained and even increased by using a tokenized ecosystem
where resources, materials, and shipments are linked to tokens that in turn
are verifable and traceable. When a supply chain’s practices are ideal from
an environmental standpoint and verifed through the blockchain, the orga-
nization would be rewarded with tokens. This ecosystem could draw more
organizations into the ecosystem which would turn their supply chains more
environmentally sustainable.
Blockchain can promote circular economy practices which include reduc-
ing materials and waste, reusing products, and recycling. The traceability and
transparency features mean that operating costs decrease, and so can waste
decrease. Blockchain can be used to incentivize new behaviors by verifying
social sustainability claims, tokenizing sustainable purchases, and creating
new systems for pricing and trading. Each step and transaction of the supply
chain can be traced and its sustainability can be evaluated. While Köhler and
Pizzol (2020) stated that there is no strong evidence as such that blockchain
would increase sustainability, if we think about the main advantages of block-
chain, i.e., transparency, traceability, authenticity, and trust, it can support a
sustainable supply chain in various ways (Saberi et al., 2019). For example,
having better information available about product freshness can help reduce
food waste. Another example is how blockchain can enable certifcations,
including sustainability certifcations, to be easily issued and tracked in a
trustworthy way. In that sense, it can also help tackle human rights issues.
Nevertheless, the design of the blockchain solution has a great infuence on
achieving specifc sustainability objectives; it enables more effcient tracking
of social and environmental conditions of supply chains (Saberi et al., 2019;
Köhler & Pizzol, 2020).
Blockchain helps organizations in ensuring an environmentally green and
sustainable supply chain. It is often diffcult to verify that products are pro-
duced in an environmentally friendly way. If there is proof available that the
products are manufactured with the use of renewable energy and sustainable
material sources, consumers are more willing to buy the products. For exam-
ple, in the furniture industry, Ikea has a table in their catalog claiming that it
is made from a sustainable woodcut in Indonesia. Ikea must have an effcient
tracking system to ensure that the product is indeed made from a specifc
material. It is a diffcult process but can be accomplished with the use of

blockchain technology and the origins of the product can be tracked through
the whole supply chain (Saberi et al., 2019). Another aspect that blockchain
can help to achieve is social sustainability. Saberi et al. (2019) stated that the
food and beverage industries are just a few examples that face a lot of pres-
sure from consumers related to sustainability nowadays. Blockchain can help
organizations to ensure that only suppliers that provide proof of sustainable
practices are allowed, which can be validated as product, ingredient infor-
mation, and certifcates need to be recorded in the blockchain. Varriale et
al. (2021) stated that blockchain can also help in preventing the violation of
human rights. This is necessary, especially in luxury products such as dia-
monds where corruption and illegal practices are common. The transparency
offered by blockchain can help in achieving better sustainability, and control
suppliers to avoid human rights violations, child labor, inhuman working con-
ditions, and corruption.
1.3.3 Blockchain as a Governance Mechanism

Unlike traditional organizational governance where rules and conditions
are enforced through economic governance, i.e., contractual governance or
through sociological governance, i.e., relational governance (Shahzad et al.,
2018), blockchain functions as an autonomous system of formal rules—a self-
automated governance mechanism, relying on a set of protocols and code-
based rules that are inevitably applied by the underlying blockchain-based
network (Lumineau et al., 2021). Since blockchain does not directly depend
on the enforceability of external legal obligations, smart contracts are placed
in a blockchain-based network that facilitates the enforcement of rules by
their embedded codes and algorithms (Catalini & Boslego, 2019). Blockchain
also negates the concept of dependence, expectations of partner’s behavior,
and/or judgment based on their history, as it facilitates collaboration beyond
these notions of expectations in behaviors and integrity is established without
any direct contact between parties but through the system’s immutability. In
this vein, scholars such as Lumineau et al. (2021) comprehensively differenti-
ated blockchain governance with contractual and relational governance based
on defning features, regulatory principles, modes of enforcement, and form.
They argued that, in blockchain, the identity of collaborating parties is less
important and blockchain governance is distinct from both contractual and
relational governance which facilitates hindering opportunism and boosting
cooperation.
Thus, a holistic understanding of blockchain governance, its processes,

implementation, and practices in the industrial ecosystem is required for fur-
ther research in order to produce a clear understanding for both research
and practice. It necessitates exploring and mapping the usage of blockchain
technology by frms to automate transactions as well as revising and renewing
their business model in order to achieve a successful innovation-management
process. Blockchain can help in breaking silos among different actors in the
supply chain and has the potential to make it an integrated ecosystem that is
fully transparent to all the players involved.
1.3.4 Challenges and Barriers to Adopting

Blockchain in the Supply Chain
Kshetri (2021) mentioned that blockchain has several challenges on its way
before entering mass adoption. One major issue is the lack of standards, regu-
lations, and laws. Global supply chains operate in an environment where dif-
ferent countries have different regulations and standards on how to operate,
and most of the processes are managed by human beings in an old-fashioned
way with lots of documents. Data in the blockchain needs to follow differ-
ent regulatory requirements, and it is not yet clear what can be recorded in
the blockchain and how the data needs to be managed in a secure way that
is aligned with the requirements. Kshetri (2021) further identifed common
barriers to blockchain adoption including lack of institutional capacities, low
degree of digitization, lack of technological expertise and absorptive capacity,
and rank effect and barriers faced by small companies. The lack of institu-
tional capacities relates to a lack of consistent societal, political, and economic
operational context involving environments with diverse laws, regulations,
and institutions where supply chains operate across the globe. Also, in devel-
oping countries, for instance, person-dependent patron-client relationships,
which are often informal, reach from the state structures to local levels and
determine which path will be taken in practice with respect to offcial laws
and regulations. A low degree of digitization is another issue typical in devel-
oping countries as high-degree computerization is a core requirement for
blockchain and the digitalization of supply chains overall. This means a lack
of digital devices as well as Internet access, which together inhibit the intro-
duction of the solutions.
Furthermore, since blockchain is in its infancy and developing in several
industrial sectors, the available use cases are limited and industry-specifc,
and it becomes diffcult to generalize its value for everyone by only looking
at some pilot projects. In such a scenario, several concerns regarding its

scalability and operability in the context of the supply chain arise, as there
exist chain limitations with the ever-increasing number of transactions and a
huge amount of information in blocks. A lack of technological maturity also
hinders the blockchain to run effciently as this has to do with the scalabil-
ity aspect of the technology (Hackius & Petersen, 2017). The concern of the
cost of developing, maintaining, and implementing blockchain in the supply
chain is another factor that triggers an uncertainty as it is not just a question
of developing in-house but acquiring or outsourcing from external sources to
ft with the requirements of a frm’s supply chain. Queiroz and Wamba (2019)
highlighted that replacing a mature system to implement blockchain can pose
several infrastructural challenges along with the cost of such changes. The
ability to connect blockchains with the existing infrastructure of the compa-
nies, in order to function effectively, creates uncertainty as the technological
usability remains low. Thus, it becomes unclear whether the technology will
develop in the future and if so, how it will happen (Hackius & Petersen,
2020). Similarly, for small companies, it might be challenging to implement
blockchain as it requires infrastructural changes and investments (Queiroz &
Wamba, 2019), which small companies usually lack.
As traditional supply-chain operations face several challenges such as dam-
age, erroneous data entry, order mismanagement, etc., the effective implemen-
tation and smooth functioning of blockchain in supply-chain systems requires
the integration of various supply-chain players. As blockchain requires every
transaction to be processed and validated through each node, weak infra-
structure and political and institutional arrangements in developing countries
restrict fawless implementation (Kshetri, 2021; Min, 2019). Although the trans-
parency, visibility, and immutability of blockchain are great advantages in
supply chains, data duplication in certain nodes or individual tampering might
hurt the whole chain (Queiroz & Wamba, 2019). Furthermore, the mass adop-
tion of blockchain technology is considered to be a challenge at the moment
as the technology itself is not ready yet. Since the size of supply networks
has grown massively, the capacity of blockchains to deal with a huge number
of transactions seems to prevent scaling up. As several alternative solutions
exist and excel in dealing with such large sets of data in the supply chain, the
suitability of blockchain with legacy systems can pose several challenges for
frms. For example, global supply chains are complex; one cannot just employ
blockchain in operations to solve a certain supply-chain problem as it requires
the whole supply-chain parties to integrate and comply with diverse laws,
regulations, and institutions (Hackius et al., 2020; Kshetri, 2021). This might
also slow down the development of blockchain in supply-chain operations

because of the large number of participants involved. Also, each participant
would want to have their own ways of working applied and many participants
will have to change their existing way of working.
Regulating disruptive technologies is one of the main barriers when orga-
nizations want to implement blockchain. For blockchain, there are only a
few standards placed while requiring more standards to execute the system
effciently and securely. Also, the legislation is changing at a rapid pace and
questions remain as to whether the solutions will comply with the future
laws (Hackius et al., 2020). In addition to that, the lack of support from
governments in the form of regulatory frameworks and policies promoting
standards restricts the adoption of the blockchain (Choi et al., 2020). The
legality of smart contracts is still unclear because of the nature of encrypted
code that courts may not be able to recognize. Even cryptocurrencies are
still being monitored and policies are in the process of being established.
Another barrier that is restricting the adoption of blockchain into supply
chains is the lack of understanding of the technology that stakeholders have
(Jabbar et al., 2021). Currently, there is a low level of understanding that exists
among both industry leaders and consumers. Blockchain technology con-
tains complex elements that are sometimes diffcult to understand, and several
people stamp it as illegitimate due to the recent frauds and scandals reported.
Furthermore, lagging to adopt technology is not an unknown phenomenon
and is often studied by scholars. Costs, complexity, and skills are existing bar-
riers to technology adoption. Walsh et al. (2021) studied the resistance to a
blockchain system by assessing managers’ resistance to the change. In short,
perceived benefts decrease resistance, however there are challenges in under-
standing the full benefts because of a lack of knowledge about blockchain
technology (Walsh et al., 2021).
Kshetri (2021) states that another issue is that there is a relatively low level
of digitalization in the supply chain and the technical requirements to start
using blockchain. To adopt blockchain, a high degree of computerization is
required from the participants and many of them are in developing countries.
In such countries, there are challenges related to digitalization, and simply
not enough resources to implement blockchain in their operations. In addi-
tion to this, the overall level of skills regarding blockchain is still rather low.
As of 2018, there were approximately 20 million software developers in the
world, but only 0.1% of them knew about blockchain codes. It requires a lot
to implement a high-quality blockchain ecosystem that includes a wide net-
work consisting of different countries and operations. Similarly, Chang et al.
(2020) state that one of the main barriers to the larger adoption of blockchain
in supply-chain management is that most organizations are too suspicious of
the technology. Blockchain is easily considered a synonym for cryptocurren-
cies, and organizations are suspicious about the safety of the system and the
actual benefts that can be gained when implementing it in real-life projects.
For now, not many users see the benefts clearly as there are too many threats
such as fear of unintentional data compromise because the regulations and
standards are not implemented yet.
One notable challenge related to blockchain adoption is also that it is
unclear whether it is needed and how benefcial it is compared to the current
centralized data-sharing and management models. It costs a lot to set up a
blockchain network as it needs to be integrated with the existing systems. In
addition to the costs, and complexity, it remains unclear whether it is scalable
enough to handle all the transactions and whether the performance and level
of costs are suffcient to replace the old systems.
1.3.5 Overcoming the Challenges

Overcoming these challenges boils down to recognizing the limitations of
implementing blockchain solutions, particularly on a large scale. Blockchain
could be leveraged in improving operational effciency by optimizing existing
business processes to recognize its benefts, if any. As blockchain technology
is young and future research is required to develop new traceability applica-
tions, small-scale experimentations can be performed to quantitatively stress
the need for blockchains in the supply chain (Sunny et al., 2020). Moreover, as
experiments are conducted and relevant experience is acquired, technological
enablers become more applicable and available. With better capabilities com-
bined with lower prices as well as the establishment of a more comprehensive
digital infrastructure across the globe, implementation of blockchain solutions
on a wider scale can be achieved for the beneft of all. The issue of ensuring
appropriate inputs into blockchain remains among the main concerns, which
requires the establishment and application of comprehensive governance
based on the decentralization principles for input validation in blockchain to
minimize the incentives to act based on adverse motivations when participat-
ing in blockchain-based cooperation.
Moreover, there is still a lot of work to do with the features and operations
of smart contracts, and those developments are expensive and troublesome.
The programmed codes with bugs can cost a lot to organizations, so they must
be precise, but also simple and cost-effcient. Regarding key management,

in a smart contract every user has public and private keys, which are used
for authentications; it can be challenging to store the private keys. Further,
a smart contract platform to keep up with the growth of organizations must
be scalable. However, current platforms are not capable and scalable enough
and have different limitations, such as time intervals and block sizes required
to generate new blocks (Omar et al., 2020). Similarly, these platforms are
not equipped to prepare and handle unseen future events, such as natural
disasters or any unexpected change of circumstances. This obstacle could be
handled by combining the smart contract with artifcial intelligence, big data,
or machine learning, however, the combined technologies are not mature
enough (Omar et al., 2020). People can resist when a new platform or tech-
nology is set to be implemented in an organizational setting. Similarly, Omar
et al. (2020) argued that people are used to the old technologies and ways to
work and are afraid of the risks, and do not want to try new possibilities. Also,
the privacy of data plays a role, as each country has its own laws and legal
requirements which make it diffcult for smart contracts to be implemented
effectively (Khan et al., 2021). Also, due to the fact that the supply chain
involves various entities in different stages, having multiple decision makers
complicates the management and therefore leads to information inequality.
Lack of information sharing and traceability makes the process, collaboration
among parties, sense, and response events more diffcult to chart.
In order to ensure product safety and quality, there is a need for greater
transparency throughout the entire supply chain. As the customers have more
knowledge in different felds, they demand to know the provenance of the
product before they commit to buying it. It is vital to build trust and strong
relationships with the customers and all of the partners throughout the supply-
chain process.
Data loss is one challenge that the implementation of smart contracts has,
due to the fact that the systems are mainly heterogeneous and categorized
under different administrative domains. One challenge is the governance-
related issues, where it is important to know how governments should regu-
late such contracts and how such heterogeneous regulations will be emerged.
For example, it is important to know how certain transactions will be taxed
and how the privacy and anonymity of data will be addressed as it can be
challenged. When a large number of transactions takes place simultaneously
and a hacker gains unauthorized access to the blockchain, they can create
false contracts that might be left unnoticed and accepted, which can lead
to many types of losses, of which the fnancial losses are the most obvious
(Rouhani & Deters, 2019).
1.4 Conclusions and Future Development Directions

In this opening chapter, we have gone straight to the future to suggest an
innovative technology solution that may revolutionize the whole supply chain.
In response to the global changes in the environment, society and business
areas, it is imperative for all of the actors in the supply chain to follow the
sustainable path of operations.
Therefore, in the literature review, we have introduced the concept of sus-
tainability and linked its development all the way to sustainable supply-chain
management. Next, we have shed some light on the principles and basic
features of blockchain technology, as it is still an emerging technology with
relatively low levels of common understanding by society.
This theoretical foundation has led us to present a conceptual framework
for blockchain application in sustainable supply chains. We have achieved
it by mixing the concepts of blockchain-based supply chains together with
blockchain utilization in sustainability. The supporting element of our frame-
work was blockchain as a governance mechanism, which can drastically
change the current administration of supply chains. As blockchain is still
in its infancy stage of development, we have identifed major barriers to its
widespread implementation within supply chains and proposed practical
measures to overcome these numerous challenges. Therefore, this conceptual
framework provides both theoretical and practical implications by analyzing
extant seminal literature in the feld of sustainable supply-chain manage-
ment together with proposing future research directions. Practitioners from
the logistics, blockchain technology, digitalization, and supply-chain areas
can utilize this framework as a guide toward the successful implementation
of blockchain in future-oriented sustainable supply chains.
As it is claimed that blockchain could revolutionize the current approach
toward supply-chain management, future research should further investigate
the impact of blockchain and its long-lasting benefts (Pournader et al., 2020).
By providing disintermediation and supply-chain transparency, blockchain
can support a trust-free environment for conducting business, which could
dramatically change the interrelations between producers and end custom-
ers and cause the rethinking of the current trust-based theories in the supply
chain (Saberi et al., 2019). As it is claimed that blockchain-based systems may
require business model innovation, an interesting area of future research

is the infuence of blockchain’s application on the current business models
(Nowiński & Kozma, 2017; Shahzad, 2020). Moreover, as shown in the chap-
ter, blockchain would provide new governance mechanisms, which will put
the existent supply-chain governance structures into question. Furthermore,
as the main feature of blockchain is to improve information sharing, a more
advanced information processing theory would help to better understand
technical nuances related to the blockchain-based supply chains.
Importantly, as we have discussed sustainability in supply chains, further
research is recommended to analyze the blockchain-enabled sustainable sup-
ply chains from the environmental, economic, and societal aspects and to
measure each performance accordingly (Kshetri, 2021).
Lastly, blockchains, through providing decentralization, transparency, and
smart contracts, might bring a very open and dynamic approach to perfor-
mance systems which would allow more operational relationships while
decreasing the importance of strategic alliances. It will strongly stimulate the
supply-chain risk management as well, by bringing effciency improvements
which would serve to reduce delays and overall risk levels across the supply
chain (Fu & Zhu, 2019). Hence, such a possible signifcant infuence of block-
chain on current structures requires deeper investigation.
Acknowledgments
This research is a part of the BizPub research project funded by the founda-
tion for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) under the grant number
200264.
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Chapter 2
Modern transportation
Systems: the Field for
innovations implementation
Aleksandra Górecka
Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Poland
Contents
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................29
2.2 Innovations—the Theoretical Background.............................................30
2.3 Innovations in the Transport Sector .......................................................32
2.4 Aviation—Range of Possibilities for Innovations ...................................33
2.5 Conclusions..............................................................................................38
References.........................................................................................................39
2.1 introduction
For a successful modern economy, the issue of fundamental importance is the
ability to guarantee the smooth and effcient transportation of people and goods.
To achieve it, it is necessary to implement innovations in the transportation sys-
tem. Those nowadays are focused on three main areas: Decreasing costs, increas-
ing safety, time-saving, and environmental protection. Cutting-edge technologies,
environmental regulations, and the emergence of autonomous vehicles mean that
companies in the sector must constantly adapt. The aim of the chapter is to pres-
ent the importance of innovations for modern transportation systems. The inves-
tigation included in this chapter is based on the example of the selected three
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-3 29
groups of innovations (current novelties, COVID-19 response innovations, and

innovations for sustainability) implemented in the air business sector in the 21st
century.
This chapter is organized as follows: Section 2.2 provides the theoretical
background of innovations. In Section 2.3 I presented the importance of inno-
vation in the transportation sector. Section 2.4 reviews selected innovations in
the aviation business in the 21st century. Section 2.5 concludes and suggests
the feld for future investigation.
2.2 innovations—the theoretical Background

Modern economic science is on its way to a synthetic theory of innovation
that presents innovative activity against the background of the overall process
of socioeconomic development. In view of the above, the development is the
result of the implementation of innovative solutions, which is forced by the
need for companies to respond to the occurring phenomena and dynami-
cally developing and complex processes (Barańska-Fischer & Blażlak, 2016).
Innovation becomes a signifcant factor in the development, causing positive
changes that determine the development of the company or economy (Ortega
et al., 2021; Ryley et al., 2013; Załoga & Liberadzki, 2010). The frst to intro-
duce the concept of innovation to economic sciences was Schumpeter, who
in his work from 1912, entitled “The Theory of Economic Development,” pre-
sented a unique understanding for the turn of the 19th and 20th century: An
understanding of the essence of entrepreneurship, associating it with a “new
combination” of production factors. He emphasized that only when factors
are combined for the frst time can such an action be described as entrepre-
neurial. The repetition of this combination in the course of the normal run-
ning of an enterprise is just a mere routine (Schumpeter, 1949). Schumpeter’s
basic premise was also that innovation is only something new that has been
applied for the frst time since its invention. According to him, further uses of
the invention were imitations and should not be called innovations (Musiał
& Chrzanowski, 2018). The conditions for the existence of innovation in
Schumpeter’s view were as follows:
1) The introduction on the market of a good which is not yet known to the
general consumer or which is of a new and better quality;
2) the use of improved production methods, which must be the result of new
inventions, but may simply consist of improved ways of trading in goods;
Modern Transportation Systems ◾ 31
3) the opening of a new market to the products of a particular industry

operating in a particular country, whether or not such a market previ-
ously existed;
4) gaining new sources of supply for raw materials and semifnished goods—
as in the previous case, it is not important whether a given source previ-
ously existed or not;
5) better organization of a given area of the economy.
Innovation was considered very important in the development of a company,

and proft was to be the reward for innovation.
In the 1970s, Galbraith (1979) pointed out the defnition of innovation as a
change that is specifc and novel and, most importantly, is carried out in a com-
pletely deliberate manner. He emphasized the planned nature of innovation in
large companies and corporations. It is determined in advance what is to be
invented and what improvements in production processes will have to be made
in order to technologically improve them. These activities take place according
to predetermined schedules and budgets since the vast majority of them require
specialized knowledge, organization, and fnancial support. Innovation in manu-
facturing processes inevitably entails the substitution of labor for capital, leading
to increased certainty of corporate revenue. Overall, it seems that the innovations
that Galbraith would be willing to accept would be to create an increasing sense
of security in doing business (Musiał & Chrzanowski, 2018).
Currently, innovation is considered an effective tool to achieve the set goals
in an enterprise. Referring to this defnition, stimulating innovation concerns not
only systems but also the management and culture of the organization (Mirabito
& Joe Layng, 2013). Nowadays, the positive aspect of implementing innovation
into an enterprise is not only to make more profts, which will only come in after
some time of innovation, but to survive and thrive in today’s turbulent environ-
ment. This involves a great deal of effort on the part of companies, which must
demonstrate a willingness to act and be creative (Urbancová, 2013).
The importance of innovation, as a major driver of economic growth, began
to be recognized by the European Union (European Commission, 1995), as
well as by the OECD in the late 20th century (OECD, 2009, 2011). The institu-
tions defned and divided innovation into (OECD, 2005):
1) Product innovation—introducing a new product or improving an existing

one with different materials, components, or specifcations;
2) process innovations—reducing overhead costs thus improving quality of
production or supply;
3) marketing innovations—introduction of visual, price, or promotional

changes in a given product;
4) organizational innovations—improvement of the enterprise potential
through reduction of various costs and increase of job satisfaction.
Product innovations are nowadays equated with technological solutions while

processing, marketing, and organizational innovations are identifed as non-
technological innovations. These are less visible, and moreover, are generally
less expensive than the others (Hyard, 2013).
Green Paper on Innovation (European Commission, 1995) was the basis for
the formulation of European innovation policy in subsequent years. Innovation
was considered to be synonymous with the adoption and use of novelties in
the socioeconomic sphere, and it was pointed out that the new solutions
resulting from innovation can meet the needs of both society as a whole and
individuals.
2.3 innovations in the transport Sector

The introduction of unfamiliar goods, new methods of distribution, the devel-
opment of new industries, and concern for the sourcing of raw materials are
the foundations of the innovation stream. Numerous areas of business are
experiencing transformations that deserve to be called progress. The move-
ment of material goods and the provision of services are areas where progress
is made visible through logistics. Here, the modern interpretation of transport
services means eliminating the storage of goods to a minimum and reducing
costs, mainly documentation.
The transport and infrastructure industry is under increasing pressure to
innovate in the way it provides services to customers, with advances in tech-
nology acting as a catalyst. In the current century, the most signifcant determi-
nant for the implementation of innovations in the transport sector is struggling
for its sustainability. This is the reason for the fact that the transport sector is
presented as a key one for general sustainable development due to the social
and economic benefts it covers while minimizing its negative effects on soci-
ety, the economy, and the environment. Sustainable transport is fundamentally
defned through the impacts of the system on the economy, environment, and
overall social well-being, and measured by system effectiveness, effciency, and
the impacts of the system on the natural environment (Baran & Górecka, 2019;
OECD, 2004). From the technical perspective, the components for evaluating
sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water, or air trans-
port, the source of energy, and the infrastructure used to accommodate the
transport (roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals, and terminals). Transport
operations and logistics are also involved in the evaluation (Jeon & Amekudzi,
2005). From the perspective of economics, innovations arise through the mech-
anisms affecting the demand and supply (European Bank for reconstruction
and development, 2019):
1) Reduction of the need for travel through substitution,

2) improvement of the effciency and convenience of travel by creating new
modes,
3) improvement of route planning, more effcient vehicles, in-vehicle ser-
vices, and so on,
4) improvement of the effciency of infrastructure construction, operation,
and management,
5) improvement of the effciency of transport operators through more com-
petition, new services, and new market structures,
6) externalities such as reduced emissions, productivity gains, and better
information for public planning.
2.4 Aviation—Range of Possibilities for innovations

The aviation sector is said to be the driving force of global technology devel-
opment and innovations. Robotics, artifcial intelligence, machine learning,
and biometrics represent only a few examples of the 21st-century technologies
implemented to improve the effciency of air transport. Original solutions in
the aviation industry are applied by airlines, airports, and aircraft producers. At
the airports, innovations infuence operations such as passengers, baggage, and
cargo handling, and lead to achieving their maximum safety level while ensur-
ing comfort for passengers and timely aircraft handling, i.e., increasing airport
capacity and security. Apart from technologies, the whole sector is exceptionally
innovative in terms of organizational and management techniques. Kleczkowska
(2021) investigated the best Asian airports included in “World’s Top 100 Airports
2020” and concluded that the most numerous groups of innovations were those
focused on marketing and airport image (65%), maintaining the comfort of pas-
sengers (20%), and processing and management improvement (1%). The tables
below present an overview of the most popular innovations in aviation and the
purposes of their application (Table 2.1).
table 2.1 the examples of innovations in the Aviation Sector.

Innovation Implementation/
Innovation type testing examples Purpose
Robot for the Processing/ e.g. Etihad, KLM ◾ Manage food waste
production of management Royal Dutch infight.
meals innovations Airlines
Self-driving Processing e.g. British Airways, ◾ Improvement of
autonomous innovation Heathrow Airport, baggage-handling
guide robots Incheon Airport, effciency;
Munich Airport, ◾ Enhancement of
Rotterdam The ergonomic working
Hague Airport conditions for ground
staff.
Fully functional Processing e.g. AirAsia ◾ Improvement of
digital twin innovation operational decision
making, based on the
holistic view of airport
operations;
◾ Help set up robust
schedules;
◾ Management and
solving disruptions.
Virtual reality Marketing e.g. Aigle Azur, ◾ Quick creation of
(VR) & innovation Austrian Airlines, visual assets including
immersive British Airways, photography, flm, and
experiences Emirates, Etihad, 360° content to be
Evelop used across marketing
channels.
Infight Product e.g. testing in ◾ High-quality Wi-Fi up
Connectivity innovation AirAsia, in the air.
Norwegian, Qatar
Airways
Source: Own elaboration based on www.futuretravelexperience.com. Available: March 15,
2022.
In 2021, apart from environmental challenges, the aviation industry

mainly focused on the reaction to the COVID-19 crisis and rebuilding the
business, therefore many new solutions for ensuring health safety were
launched. Fabre (2021) indicated four main felds of challenges for the
aviation industry that must be solved by different types of innovations
that will support airport operations and management in the future, and
these are:
1) Achieving effciency of low-touch operations by automation and digitiza-

tion techniques,
2) gaining leaner operations, and adapting to fuctuating passenger numbers
through cloud technology and business intelligence,
3) challenges for regional airports to attract passengers as in international
and hub airports by digital experience for seamless interoperation across
travel systems,
4) diffculties of airline supply chains solved by blockchain technology.
Those innovations which are strictly connected with the COVID-19 pandemic
are shown in Table 2.2.
The ongoing processes of liberalization, deregulation, amendments to legal
regulations as well as infrastructure investments strongly affect the natural
environment and therefore, innovations implemented in this sector are also
focused on supporting sustainability. Hence, striving for sustainability contin-
ued high on the development agenda for airlines and airports, and an impor-
tant part of the aviation sector is research into techniques and technologies
to reduce consumption of natural resources and environmental pollution, and
integrate air transport with other transport modes within an integrated and
sustainable system (European Commission, 2014). Several initiatives are sup-
posed to lead to a decrease in environmental pollution from aviation. The
assumption of air-transport sustainability forced the airlines and aircraft manu-
facturers to investigate more and more advanced technologies allowing for
the replacement of fossil fuels with alternative energy sources. Another reason
is to fnd a business hedge against fuctuations in fossil-fuel prices that have
been observed over the past few decades.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has introduced the
Sustainable Alternative jet Fuels (SAF) strategy which was explained as the inter-
mediate shift of the aviation business into fully alternative, low-emission fuels.
The new fuels and energy sources, such as solar jet fuel, power-to-liquid engines,
and electrically powered aircraft, would play a major role in aviation starting
from approximately 2040 to 2050. However, before employing these technologies,
which are currently being tested, IATA claims that drop-in fuels remain the only
sustainable alternative to fossil jet fuels for at least two to three decades before
aviation sustainability is achieved (IATA, 2015). The data of E4Tech (Bauen et al.,
2020) presents the savings in CO2 using SAF (cf. Table 2.3).
table 2.2 innovations Addressing the needs of the CoViD-19 Crisis.

The end-to-end Process e.g. AirAsia, Etihad, ◾ Reduction of the
contactless airport innovation Bangalore Int. Airport interaction between
experience Ltd. passengers and staff.
Touchless check-in Process e.g. American ◾ Reduction of the
innovation Airlines, Avalon interaction between
Airport, Avinor, passengers and staff.
Japan Airlines
Infight entertainment Organizational e.g. Southwest ◾ Minimizing the spread
based on the BYOD innovation Airlines of viruses.
model (bring your
own device)
Just Walk Out Process e.g. Dallas Love Field ◾ Reduction of the
technology innovation Airport interaction between
passengers and staff by
the contactless walk-
through shopping
experience.
E-commerce service Process e.g. AirAsia ◾ Reduction of the
innovation interaction between
passengers and staff by
contactless purchasing
of duty-free products
and having them
delivered to their
doorstep the next day.
Contactless food & Process/ e.g. Chicago Midway, ◾ Reduction of the
beverage (f&b) organizational Dallas/Fort Worth interaction between
innovation Airport, Los Angeles passengers and staff by
Int., Philadelphia, contactless ordering of
Schiphol, Transavia a meal through a web
platform before the
fight.
Digital health Process e.g. SunExpress ◾ Shortening the time
passports & innovation of passenger handling
vaccination visas and health-checking
process.
COVID-19 test Process e.g. Dublin Airport, ◾ Speeding up
centers innovation Heathrow, Schiphol, the process of
Los Angeles Int., San covid-testing.
Francisco
table 2.2 (Continued) innovations Addressing the needs of the CoViD-19 Crisis.
APEX Health Safety Management e.g. Air Canada, Alaska ◾ Awarding airlines
initiative innovation Airlines, Etihad, for their efforts
JetSmart, Qatar in ensuring the
Airways, Saudia, highest standards
Singapore Airlines, of cleanliness and
Spirit, Sri Lankan, sanitization.
Turkish Airlines,
United Airlines,
Virgin Atlantic
Advanced self- Process e.g. Lufthansa Group, ◾ Reduction of the face-
service and innovation US airports, Dubai Int. to-face interaction
biometrics Airport; Etihad, between airline staff &
Hollywood Int. Airport passengers.
Robots with Process e.g. G. R. Ford Int. ◾ Improving health
ultraviolet light innovation Airport, Hamad Int. safety and comfort of
technology for Airport, Heathrow passengers.
cleaning Airport, JetBlue,
Gatwick, Helsinki,
Qatar Airways,
Pittsburgh Int.
Airport
Floor-scrubbing Process e.g. Cincinnati/ ◾ Improving health
robot innovation Northern Kentucky safety and comfort of
Int. Airport passengers.
Non-face-to-face Process Incheon Int. Airport ◾ Reduction of the face-
automatic body innovation to-face interaction
temp. robots between airline staff &
passengers.
Video analytics and Process e.g. J.F. Kennedy Int. ◾ Monitoring social
virtual queueing innovation Airport, Stuttgart distancing from
Airport curbside to check-in
and through the
security checkpoint
in the terminal.
Home check-in, Process Dubai Airport ◾ Improving health
baggage innovation safety and comfort of
disinfection services passengers.
Source: Own elaboration based on www.futuretravelexperience.com. Available: March 15,
2022.
table 2.3 Greenhouse-Gas emissions of SAF.

Savings in CO2 vs.
Technology Stock jet fuels
The FT—Fischer Tropsch—process Wood residues/straw 95%
converts solid biomass (including
residual waste) into synthetic gas
and then processes the gas into a
mixture of hydrocarbons
including road and aviation fuels.
The HEFA—Hydrotreated Esters Conventional oil crops 20%–54%
and Fatty Acids—process (palm oil, soy, rapeseed)
converts oils into a fuel similar
Jatropha 66%
to the refnement of crude fossil
oil. Camelina 85%
Animal fat 89%
Algae 98%
Source: Own elaboration based on Bauen et al. (2020).
Apart from SAF, there are several environmentally focused initiatives,

mostly launched by startups. Here, the artifcial-intelligence algorithms pro-
grammed in the software help to create a fuel-saving strategy. While inves-
tigating the fight parameters from aircraft black boxes, it turned out to be
possible to reduce fuel consumption by up to several dozen kilograms during
one fight. This means not only a signifcant reduction in greenhouse-gas
emissions into the atmosphere but also millions in savings for airlines (MM
Magazyn Przemysłowy, 2022).
2.5 Conclusions
Innovativeness is a measure of the level of modern management and its
purpose is the search for solutions that bring convenience for people,
improvement of management effciency, and protection of the natural envi-
ronment. Innovations have continued to drive the aerospace industry from
the beginning of its operation. The same is true today, in the modern age, as
it was said by Schumpeter, that innovations are still major factors for busi-
ness development. Product, process, organizational, and marketing novel-
ties are equally important for the airlines and the airport to achieve success
in the market. In the chapter, I presented examples of 21st-century tech-

nologies that either have been introduced by air-transport companies or
are being tested by research institutes to be introduced in the future. There
was a huge issue to classify them into the exact groups of innovations, as
some represent together product and marketing innovations; on the other
hand, some can be included in organizational and process innovations.
Nevertheless, innovations are perceived as ventures that enable the aviation
industry’s sustainable growth by meeting all requirements and regulations
while ensuring fnancial stability, and responding to customer needs which
ultimately results in the development of the sector which is in line with
Schumpeter’s theory.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reality, with all the problems and dif-
fculties related to suspensions and bans on passenger fights, designated that
investments in searching for innovations in passengers’ health safety were
the exclusive factor that allowed airports and airlines to remain in business.
Although from the academic and business perspective, it is a vast challenge to
investigate whether the costs incurred by companies of “COVID-19 innovations”
actually ensured the effective operation of the air business enterprises. This
understanding of innovations is in line with Galbraith’s perspective.
The huge limitation of the chapter is the access to reliable sources about
innovations that have been implemented in the aviation-industry companies,
especially those that constitute the know-how of the companies.
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Chapter 3
Green Warehousing: A State-

of-the-Art Literature Review
Joanna Domagała
Contents
3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................44
3.2 Literature Review .....................................................................................45
3.3 Research Methods and Data ....................................................................47
3.3.1 Methods and Analysis Tools ........................................................47
3.3.2 Data Collection and Research Tasks ...........................................48
3.4 Results ......................................................................................................49
3.4.1 General Trend in GW Publications .............................................49
3.4.2 Analysis of Authorship and Collaboration ..................................52
3.4.3 Analysis of Publication Sources...................................................54
3.4.4 Analysis of Publications by Country/Research Center ...............55
3.4.5 Analysis of the Main Research Areas ..........................................57
3.5 Discussion ................................................................................................58
Cluster 1. Optimization of Warehouse Building Construction/
Design Concerning Environmental Impact ................................58
Cluster 2. Impact of Warehouse Automation on Environmental
Issues ............................................................................................60
Cluster 3. Reduction of Carbon Footprint in Warehouses .....................61
Cluster 4. Energy Effciency in Warehouses ...........................................61
Cluster 5. Sustainable Warehouse Management .....................................63
3.6 Conclusions and Implications for Theory and Practice .........................63
References .........................................................................................................65
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-4 43
3.1 introduction
Nowadays, the rapid growth of logistics operations associated with, among
other things, long-haul freight transportation, intensive intracity distribution,
and the growth of online sales generates negative externalities in daily opera-
tions (Lindholm & Blinge, 2014), including emissions, congestion, traffc acci-
dents, noise, vibrations, infrastructure failures, and waste of resources (United
Nations, 2011). A rapid increase in negative externalities can bring about irre-
versible consequences for the economy and the entire ecosystem.
On the other hand, awareness of climate change and issues of sustainability
has also been growing rapidly. Consumers are demonstrating increasing inter-
est in going green, and additional regulatory pressure is forcing companies to
manage all operations from an environmental perspective (Mutingi et al., 2014).
In order to address environmental aspects, as well as to gain a competitive
advantage, many companies are implementing or considering implementing
Green Supply-Chain Management (GSCM) (Bititci et al., 2012).
Like any logistics activity, warehouses contribute to the production of
greenhouse gases (GHGs). Warehousing operations account for approximately
11% of the total GHG emissions generated by the logistics sector worldwide
(Doherty & Hoyle, 2009). As a result, companies are increasingly paying atten-
tion to the environmental issues of warehouses in addition to operational and
economic goals, especially since certain European governments have also set
specifc energy effciency targets.
Research on sustainability in logistics and supply-chain management has been
growing steadily in recent years (Seuring & Müller, 2008; Hassini et al., 2012;
Schaltegger et al., 2014). Even though the concept of GSCM is increasingly attract-
ing the attention of researchers and practitioners, Green Warehouse issues have so
far only been addressed in a few independent literature-review publications.
Therefore, a literature review was conducted and systematized to analyze
warehouse operations in terms of environmental sustainability. The main pur-
pose of the chapter is to present the results of the bibliometric analysis of
scientifc research on the issue of “Green Warehouse (GW).” In particular, the
conducted research will indicate:
1) Dynamics of changes in researchers’ interest in GW issues;

2) key/infuential scientists, publications, and journals in the GW feld;
3) distribution of research by geography (countries and research institutions);
4) keywords clustering and research problems in the GW feld;
5) research gaps and future research opportunities.
Green Warehousing: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review ◾ 45
Therefore, the novelty of this paper lies in the systematization of the lit-
erature review and the visualization of the relationships between GW-related
research topics. The research will identify emerging research subareas as well
as gaps in GW research that can improve the analysis of GW issues both theo-
retically and practically. It is also expected that the conducted analyses will
provide researchers and practitioners with a more in-depth understanding of
Green Warehouse research and practical activities. The approach proposed
in the research can also be applied as a tool to further collect, analyze, and
expand GW-related knowledge.
The chapter is organized as follows. Section 3.1 is the introduction. Section
3.2 provides a short literature review of the GSCM studies. In Section 3.3, the
outline of the research method is introduced. Section 3.4 presents the results
of the data collection and the results of fve parts of scientometric analysis.
Section 3.5 proposes the taxonomy of GW research based on the keywords
clustering and discusses the knowledge branches in detail. Section 3.6 con-
cludes by highlighting the limitations of this review and proposing directions
for future research.
3.2 Literature Review

Due to the growing importance of implementing the concept of sustainabil-
ity in the management of enterprises, the implementation of mechanisms for
assessing and improving the environmental performance of processes related
to the delivery of the product to the fnal consumer becomes necessary. Such
an approach is related to the concept of green supply-chain management
(Gavronski et al., 2011).
The frst green supply-chain (GSC) concept was developed in 1989 when
Kelle and Silver (1989) mentioned the use of reusable products and then intro-
duced green operations concerning the concept of reverse logistics. As a result
of the quality revolution of the 1980s and the supply chain revolution of the
1990s, companies began to implement sustainability (Srivastava, 2007). In the
late 1990s, many researchers conducted comprehensive reviews and studies
on Green Supply-Chain Management (GSCM) (Barros et al., 1998; Sarkis &
Cordeiro, 2001; Pakurár et al., 2020).
GSCM is the integration of sustainability issues in design, procurement,
manufacturing, distribution, sales, and marketing, as well as product end-of-
life management (Handfeld et al., 1997; Srivastava, 2007; Green et al., 2012;
Grabara et al., 2020).
According to Darnall et al. (2008), GSCM practices include environmental

activities to provide environmentally friendly products or services and reduce
costs in the value chain. GSCM involves both implementing and monitor-
ing environmental management programs and further controlling the imple-
mented practices through various Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, etc.) to
minimize waste.
According to Malviya and Kant (2015), GSCM is a holistic approach that
incorporates environmental awareness in the supply chain and supports
companies to improve their sustainability. In addition, GSCM is a strategic
management tool that enhances the environmental performance of the man-
ufacturing industry. It also improves other sustainability goals (Hassan et al.,
2016).
Therefore, green supply-chain management covers environmentally respon-
sible activities related to planning and controlling the fow of raw materi-
als, components, and fnished products from suppliers to the end consumer.
Green supply-chain management enables the cooperation and communica-
tion between partners necessary to implement environmentally responsible
practices in their operations (Zhu et al., 2008), and thus contributes to the
performance of the cooperating entities.
The operation of any supply chain has environmental consequences
(Large & Gimenez Thomsen, 2011). The environmental impact of green
supply chains is primarily positive. Furthermore, the introduction of envi-
ronmentally friendly practices into the supply chain contributes to cost reduc-
tions (e.g., emissions-related costs) and improved customer service (Walton
et al., 1998), although the paradoxes of green logistics include a higher level
of environmental costs than other costs generated by the logistics system
(Bajdor, 2012).
GSCM is gaining popularity in various industries such as the automotive
industry, chemicals, textiles, oil and gas exploration, pharmaceuticals, metal
manufacturing, FMCG goods, electronics, construction, plastics, and tourism
(Thierry et al., 1995; Srivastava, 2007; Green et al., 2012; Hasan et al., 2019; Liu
et al., 2020).
The GSCM literature deals with various aspects, including sustainable sup-
ply chain, (Fahimnia et al., 2015; Zhang & Yousaf, 2020), GSCM (Srivastava,
2007; Green et al., 2012; Tseng et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2020), sustainable busi-
ness (Bocken & Geradts, 2020), green marketing (Nekmahmud & Fekete-
Farkas, 2020; Szczepańska-Woszczyna & Kurowska-Pysz, 2016), and green
business (Hasan et al., 2019; Urbański & Haque, 2020). In addition, some
studies focus on the methodological part of the GSCM literature (Soda et al.,
2016). Several literature review articles on GSCM have also been published
(Srivastava, 2007; Ahi & Searcy, 2013; Fahimnia et al., 2015; Bajdor & Grabara,
2011; Malviya & Kant, 2015; de Oliveira et al., 2018; Badi & Murtagh, 2019;
Tseng et al., 2019).
Some authors include “green warehouse” as an environmentally sustain-
able supply-chain process (Rostamzadeh et al., 2015; Kumar et al., 2015).
However, while the topic of GSCM has been extensively reviewed in the
literature, the topic of GW has only been addressed in a few independent
literature-review publications. Nonetheless, following the global trend,
increasing attention should be given to green and sustainable warehouse
processes, including research into management concepts, technology, and
equipment to reduce the carbon footprint of warehouses (Wiedmann &
Minx, 2008).
There is no single formal defnition of the term green warehouse in the
literature. In this chapter, the term green warehouse (GW) will be used to
describe a management concept that integrates and implements environ-
mentally friendly measures in warehouses to minimize energy consumption,
energy costs, and greenhouse-gas emissions.
3.3 Research Methods and Data

3.3.1 Methods and Analysis Tools
The study uses bibliometric methods. According to Pritchard (1969), bib-
liometrics is a set of research techniques that can be used to analyze pub-
lications (Klincewicz, 2009). There is a distinction between evaluative
bibliometrics, concerning the evaluation of scientifc centers or research-
ers, which is based mainly on article-citation indices (Solla Price, 1976;
Bornmann & Daniel, 2014), and descriptive bibliometrics, which is used
to analyze trends in scientifc research and identify relevant researchers or
research centers (Klincewicz, 2012). The descriptive approach will be used
for the planned analyses, which will facilitate a synthetic analysis of the lit-
erature and enable us to identify mainstream developments in the area of
Green Warehouse (GW).
Various tools and techniques were used for the bibliometric analysis. Trend
analysis was applied to the rate of changes in the number of publications
and citations during the studied period. We also used citation analysis, which
concerns substantive relationships between publications (Klincewicz, 2012).
A higher impact factor indicates a higher level of interest from other authors
in the publication. Citations also refect the degree of transfer and dissemina-
tion of knowledge by authors representing different research centers. The
study also used the co-word analysis method, which is based on counting the
frequency of word pairs appearing in the analyzed text. The co-occurrence
of words may signal the existence of subareas of research or identify prem-
ises guiding the further development of a given research area. The analysis
can be performed at the level of different text elements: Titles, abstracts,
keywords, the actual text of the publication, or based on various combina-
tions of these elements. For this study, the cluster analysis method developed
by S. Zhu et al. (2009) was also applied. The method was applied using
the VOSviewer (Visualizing Scientifc Landscapes) software version 1.6.17.
VOSviewer is open-source software used for bibliometric network analysis. It
was developed at the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) by
Leiden University in the Netherlands. The software enables users to work on
text fles containing descriptions of bibliographic records exported, among
other sources, from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The study
also used data-analysis tools available in the Web of Science database.
3.3.2 Data Collection and Research Tasks

Data for the study were collected from the Web of Science database on
January 10, 2022. Next to Scopus, Web of Science is recognized as the world’s
most comprehensive bibliographic database in terms of subject coverage. This
database thematically covers the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities,
medical sciences, as well as the arts.
A key issue in performing database queries is identifying keywords that
identify all publications that are relevant to research purposes (Aveyard, 2014).
Ries et al. (2017) studied the most commonly used keywords about green
warehouses, which is why their study was taken as a basis for identifying
keywords in this paper.
The keywords were divided into two groups. The frst group included
concepts related to warehousing, e.g., “warehouse*,” “automated storage,”
“material handling,” and “order-picking.” The second group of terms was
related to environmental sustainability, e.g., “green,” “environment*,” “emis-
sion,” “eco,” “sustain*,” “carbon,” “CO2,” and “energy.” To run the query in the
Web of Science database, each keyword from the frst group was combined
with each keyword from the second group. Articles that contained at least
one search term from both groups in the article title were accepted for further
analysis. This resulted in a set of 202 publications, which underwent a further

cleanup process. Four limiting criteria were considered.
1) Time range of publication—publications from 1990 until 2021 were

considered;
2) type of publication—only publications in peer-reviewed scientifc journals
and books were considered;
3) the language of publication—only publications in English were
considered;
4) articles that did not focus on the topic of GW were eliminated.
After applying the above limitations, the data set consisted of 103
publications.
A set of fve research questions was then formulated:
1. What is the overall trend in terms of publications and interest in the topic
of the green warehouse?
2. Which authors/researchers, in light of the data analyzed, are most rel-
evant when it comes to green-warehouse research?
3. Which journals, in light of the data analyzed, are most relevant when it
comes to publishing green-warehouse research results?
4. Which science and research centers/countries, in light of the data ana-
lyzed, are key in terms of publishing green-warehouse research results?
5. What are the main research areas on the topic of the green warehouse?
3.4 Results
3.4.1 General Trend in GW Publications
In the WoS database, the frst publication on green warehouse issues appeared
in 1971. It was a paper by Kucera et al. (1971) titled “Carbon monoxide from
engines in warehouse operations,” published in American Potato Journal. The
publication concerned the evaluation of carbon-monoxide production by forklift
internal-combustion engines in warehouses. Tests compared gasoline engines
and LP gas engines, equipped with regular and catalytic muffers and with the
fuel system at normal and 10% rich air-fuel ratios.
Table 3.1 presents the basic bibliometric indices, while Figure 3.1 shows
the number of publications and citations in the WoS database for the green
table 3.1 Basic Bibliometric indicators.

Basic bibliometric indicators
number of records: 103 number of authors: 333
number of countries: 47 number of institutions: 202
number of citations: 1101 number of journals: 77
Source: Own elaboration based on the created database.
20 300
Publicaons Citaons
18
250
16
14
200
Publicaons
12
Citaons
10 150
8
100
6
4
50
2
0 0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Figure 3.1 Citations and number of Publications Related to a Green Warehouse in

the Period 1990–2021 in WoS.
Source: Own elaboration based on the created database.
warehouse from 1990 to 2021. The data in the fgure confrms the ever-growing
interest in the topic being analyzed. Three subperiods of green-warehouse pub-
lication development can be distinguished:
1) 1990–2009, when a total of ten publications appeared;

2) 2010–2015, when an average of four articles were published per year
(22 publications in total);
3) 2016–2021, when an average of twelve articles were published per year
(71 publications in total).
This signifcant increase in the number of publications, as well as citations,

in recent years can be attributed to the increased attention around the inte-
gration of sustainability topics (including environmental aspects in particular)
and logistics operations, which is also forcing businesses to look for new
opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of warehouses (Tambovcevs &
Tambovceva, 2012; Satolo et al., 2013). Moreover, the obtained results indicate
that there has been a recent increase in interest in the topic of GW, confrming
the usefulness of systematizing literature review, summarizing the key fnd-
ings on the topic, and identifying future research directions that could develop
the feld further. The largest number of publications corresponded to such
research topics as engineering, environmental sciences, green sustainable-
science technology, energy fuels, engineering manufacturing, and manage-
ment (Table 3.2).
table 3.2 Fifteen top Research Areas in the Green Warehouse.

No. of papers
Research areas in WoS
Engineering Industrial 17
Environmental Sciences 16
Green Sustainable-Science Technology 15
Energy Fuels 14
Engineering Manufacturing 14
Management 12
Operations Research Management Science 10
Construction Building Technology 8
Engineering Mechanical 8
Thermodynamics 8
Computer-Science Interdisciplinary Applications 7
Engineering Civil 7
Engineering Environmental 7
Automation Control Systems 6
Environmental Studies 6
3.4.2 Analysis of Authorship and Collaboration

In the next step, the distribution of authors’ scientifc productivity was exam-
ined. The results presented in Table 3.3 confrm that a small number of authors
published between three to fve articles, while most authors published one
GW article. The largest number of publications about GW was published by
Meneghetti A. and Monti L., and it was fve articles.
The contribution of individual authors to the development of GW research
can be primarily evaluated by taking the number of citations of their publi-
cations in the created database as a criterion. From Table 3.4, it can be seen
table 3.3 Most Productive Authors by the number of Papers.

Ranking by the number of publications
Rank Author No. of papers in WoS
1 Meneghetti, A. 5
1 Monti, L. 5
3 Lerher, T. 4
4 Zajac, P. 3
5 Bortolini, M. 2
5 Dal Borgo, E. 2
5 Digiesi, S. 2
5 Facchini, F. 2
5 Gamberi, M. 2
5 Glock, C.H. 2
5 Grosse, E.H. 2
5 Gultekin, H. 2
5 Gunthner, W.A. 2
5 Gurel, S. 2
5 Kumar, S. 2
5 Mashud, A.M. 2
5 Mossa, G. 2
5 Pilati, F. 2
5 Sarkar, B. 2
5 Wang, Y. 2
5 Zanoni, S. 2
5 Zrnic, N. 2
table 3.4 top ten Cited Papers in the GW Literature.

Total Publication
Authors Title Citations Year
Meneghetti, A.; Greening the food supply chain: 66 2015
Monti, L. an optimisation model for
sustainable design of refrigerated
automated warehouses
Lerher, T.; Edl, M.; Energy effciency model for the 48 2014
Rosi, B. mini-load automated storage
and retrieval systems
Chen, X.; Wang, X.; Low carbon warehouse 42 2016
Kumar, V.; Kumar, N. management under the cap-
and-trade policy
Battini, D.; Glock, Ch. H.; Human energy expenditure in 41 2016
Grosse, E. H.; Persona, order picking storage assignment:
A.; Sgarbossa, F. A bi-objective method
Khouri, S.; Boukhari, I.; Ontology-based structured web 40 2012
Bellatreche, L.; Sardet, data warehouses for
E.; Jean, S.; Baron, M. sustainable interoperability:
requirement modeling, design
methodology, and tool
Rai, D.; Sodagar, B.; Assessment of CO2 emissions 38 2011
Fieldson, R.; Hu, X. reduction in a distribution
warehouse
Ely, E.; Moorehead, B; Warehouse workers’ headache: 38 1995
Haponik, E. emergency evaluation and
management of 30 patients with
carbon monoxide poisoning
Fawcett, T.; Moon, R.; Warehouse workers headache— 35 1992
Fracica, P.; Mebane, carbon-monoxide poisoning
G.; Theil, D.; from propane-fueled forklifts
Piantadosi, C.
Zhu, K.; Li, X.; Techno-economic feasibility of 30 2018
Campana, P. E.; Li, integrating energy storage
H.; Yan, J. systems in refrigerated
warehouses
Ene, S.; Kucukoglu, I.; A genetic algorithm for 26 2016
Aksoy, A.; Ozturk, N. minimizing energy
consumption in warehouses
that in 2015, the paper published by Meneghetti and Monti got the highest
number of citations (66), followed by the paper by Lerher, Edl, and Rosi (48)
in 2014.
3.4.3 Analysis of Publication Sources

Of the 103 peer-reviewed articles, 94 were published in scientifc journals
(90.4%) and the remaining 10 in books (9.6%). Two journals can be consid-
ered the leaders in terms of the number of GW publications in the WoS data-
base: Sustainability, and Journal of Cleaner Production, which published
six and fve articles on the topic of GW, respectively (Table 3.5), accounting
table 3.5 Scientifc Journals with the Largest number of Publications on GW

issues in the WoS Database.
No. of papers
The title of the scientifc journal in WoS
Sustainability 6
Journal of Cleaner Production 5
International Journal of Production Research 4
Ashrae Journal 3
Computers Industrial Engineering 3
Energy and Buildings 3
International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications 3
Applied Energy 2
Ecoproduction 2
Energies 2
Energy 2
Energy Consumption in Refrigerated Warehouses 2
FME Transactions 2
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 2
International Journal of Computers Communications & Control 2
Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing 2
jointly for more than 10% of the total number of publications. In addition to
these journals, we identifed one journal that published four articles, and four
journals that published three articles each. The remaining journals published
one or two articles on the topic of GW.
Considering the total citations of articles in each position, fve jour-
nals with at least 40 citations were noted. It is worth noting that the
International Journal of Production Research is the leader in this view.
The second place is taken by the International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, while the third place is taken by the Journal
of Cleaner Production. The subject areas of these journals are broad and
enable authors to publish research from the broadly understood area
of GW.
3.4.4 Analysis of Publications by Country/Research Center

Taking into account the mechanisms of aggregation of data from records
(bibliographic descriptions of articles), it is possible to analyze the publica-
tion output through the lens of geography, specifying the country or scientifc
center of origin of authors with the largest number of publications on a given
topic. Authors publishing GW articles most often come from China, Italy,
and the United States. They are followed by authors from countries such as
Germany and the United Kingdom (Table 3.6).
Given the fact that GW is a multidisciplinary issue and requires knowledge
from different research felds, it can be assumed that researchers are inter-
ested in collaborating to share and complement this knowledge. Therefore,
the analysis also identifed the strength of cooperation between countries.
The largest collaborations were carried out by UK researchers working with
researchers from nine countries. Researchers from India and China were
slightly less cooperative.
The spatial distribution also shows the scientifc centers with authors of
the largest number of publications on the analyzed subject. A wide disper-
sion of scientifc research was observed in the perspective of the centers
where it is conducted and then published. Most centers produced one article
on GW. Two centers produced fve articles each, six centers produced three
articles each, and twenty centers produced two articles. In such a case, it
is diffcult to talk about the occurrence of institutional focus, and focus of
a given center on the topic of GW. A list of the strongest science centers is
shown in Table 3.7. Two centers are more productive in this perspective:
table 3.6 Spatial Distribution (by Country) of Authors Most

Frequently Publishing in the Area of the Green Warehouse.
No. of papers
Countries in WoS
China 16
Italy 15
USA 15
England 8
Germany 8
India 7
Poland 6
Turkey 6
Slovenia 5
Canada 4
France 4
Iran 4
Saudi Arabia 4
Serbia 4
South Korea 4
table 3.7 institutions of Authors Most Frequently Publishing

in the Area of the Green Warehouse.
No. of papers
Research center in WoS
University of Maribor 5
University of Udine 5
Middle East Technical University 3
Technical University of Munich 3
University of Belgrade 3
University of Padua 3
Wroclaw University of Science 3
Technology
The University of Maribor and the University of Udine, with fve articles
published at each.
3.4.5 Analysis of the Main Research Areas

The last and most important element of the conducted bibliometric analy-
sis was the co-word analysis, which served as cluster analysis, refecting
research subareas in the GW feld. The analysis was conducted in the fol-
lowing steps:
Step 1: Searching for records in the WoS database based on set criteria
co-word analysis was performed for the resources of the Web of Science
database. The criteria for searching records in the database are described
in subsection 3.3.2.
Step 2: Exporting bibliographic descriptions
This step’s purpose was to export the record details—author, title, source,
abstract—to a text fle.
Step 3: Developing relationship maps and cluster analysis
Maps were developed using VOSviewer by importing the entire text fle
with saved records from the WoS database. The map generation process
included the following steps:
1) Term extraction, with an indication of terms whose recurrence in
bibliographic descriptions is at a level of at least fve. In the stud-
ied case, 623 terms were identifed, of which 55 terms occurred a
minimum of fve times. VOSviewer uses Binary Counting for this
purpose;
2) for a set of 55 words, a relationship map, a cluster map of research
areas, and a citation-intensity map of analyzed terms were developed.
Step 4: Analysis of the obtained results.
The results of the analyses are presented in Figure 3.2.

The co-word analysis made it possible to identify fve research clusters
related to the topic of GW: (i) optimization of warehouse building construc-
tion/design concerning environmental impact; (ii) impact of warehouse
automation on environmental issues; (iii) reduction of carbon footprint in
warehouses; (iv) energy effciency in warehouses; (v) sustainable warehouse
management.
Figure 3.2 Co-Word Cluster Map.

Source: Own elaboration using VOSviewer based on the created database.
3.5 Discussion
Cluster 1. Optimization of Warehouse Building
Construction/Design Concerning Environmental Impact
Business operations have a huge impact on the environment, and buildings
(including warehouse buildings) around the world generate more than 40%
of total CO2 emissions through heating, cooling, and electricity. Warehouse
buildings, throughout their life cycle, from construction to demolition, contrib-
ute to energy and natural-resource consumption (Rai et al., 2011). Energy con-
sumption in warehouses is also related to the external conditions in which the
building operates. In some regions of the world, summer energy consump-
tion in a warehouse building can increase by more than 100% during the day
(Huang & Gurney, 2016). According to a report by Cushman and Wakefeld
(2020) titled “Industrial goes green,” as many as 82% of tenants of warehouse
facilities express interest in green solutions used in buildings. Companies are
increasingly recognizing the benefts of investing in modern systems designed

to reduce resource consumption.
The topic cluster on warehouse design and construction analyzed issues
related to building design and optimal use of installations and systems (e.g.,
lighting or heating) to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse-gas
emissions.
Using simulation software, Cook and Sproul (2011) assessed the energy
requirements of a retail warehouse building in Sydney. Simulation results
showed that lighting is a major factor affecting energy consumption in ware-
houses. The simulation demonstrated a reduction in warehouse energy con-
sumption of up to 73% by incorporating various changes to the warehouse
building, such as a sawtooth roof, in conjunction with effcient T5 fuorescent
lighting and automatic daylighting controls. Other savings were made by add-
ing insulation to the building, using natural ventilation and selective glazing
to limit heat transfers into and out of the building.
Rai et al. (2011) evaluated how various design decisions and building mate-
rials, particularly insulation, affect greenhouse-gas emissions in warehouse
buildings.
Fikiin et al. (2017) studied refrigerated warehouses for food products. The
authors analyzed the feasibility of integrating renewable energy sources (RES)
and innovative Cryogenic-Energy Storage (CES) technology. The results con-
frmed that a conventional cold-storage facility for chilled and frozen products
can be transformed into a smart-energy center by using innovative cryogenic-
energy storage technology.
On the other hand, Accorsi et al. (2017) proposed a multi-objective model
of designing a warehouse building intended to determine the most effcient
building parameters (width, length, and height), and minimize the cycle time,
total cost, and carbon footprint of the warehouse. The developed model was
used to design a warehouse for an Italian food-and-beverage company. The
model balanced building dimensions, storage capacity, and material-handling
effciency using Pareto frontier analysis. The proposed best balance solution
limits the total cost and carbon footprint increment below 1% compared to
their single-objective optima, while the cycle time worsening is limited to 4%
compared to the optimal cycle-time solution.
Seifhashemi et al. (2018) conducted research in Australia and noted that the
energy consumption of commercial buildings in warmer climates is higher than
the national average. The authors evaluated how the use of cool-roof technol-
ogy affects energy consumption in warehouses. The results showed that this
technology has many advantages in terms of reducing energy consumption
and saving energy costs, improving the thermal comfort of the building, and
reducing the energy demand for cooling warehouses in all evaluated climate
zones.
Cluster 2. Impact of Warehouse Automation

on Environmental Issues
In this topic cluster, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) were
evaluated from a sustainable-storage perspective. Based on the citation-intensity
map, the most cited papers within this cluster were Lerher et al. (2014) and
Tappia et al. (2015).
Meneghetti and Monti (2015) proposed an optimization model for the
design of sustainable AS/RS systems in refrigerated warehouses, taking
into account investment costs, operating costs, energy consumption, and
GHG emissions. Fichtinger et al. (2015) also developed an integrated sim-
ulation model to evaluate the relationships between inventory manage-
ment, warehouse management, and GHG emissions in automated AS/RS
warehouses.
Meneghetti and Monti (2013) also investigated how AS/RS device movements
can be designed to be energy effcient. A subsequent paper by Meneghetti et
al. (2015) investigated AS/RS device-control policy models based on a time cri-
terion and an energy-consumption criterion. They paid particular attention to
rack shapes and dimensions, which play an important role in terms of energy
consumption. The results showed that the energy demand of AS/RS systems
is related to the rack height. The best energy effciency in the simulation was
achieved for the average rack height.
On the other hand, Lerher et al. (2014) proposed an energy-effciency
model for AS/RS mini loads. The authors considered the throughput, speed,
and engine power of an S/R machine, as well as energy consumption and
greenhouse-gas emissions. Comparing these different AS/RS mini-load mod-
els, the results showed that energy consumption and GHG emissions increase
as the speed of the AS/RS devices increases.
Tappia et al. (2015) compared automated storage solutions in terms of AVS/
RS (autonomous vehicles) and storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS). Their
results indicated that autonomous vehicle technology has lower costs com-
pared to AS/RS.
Stöhr et al. (2018) developed a comparative method to evaluate the energy
effciency of three AS/RS systems, i.e., mini load-crane, horizontal carousel,
and shuttle systems.
Cluster 3. Reduction of Carbon Footprint in Warehouses

As part of this topic cluster, Ries et al. (2017) analyzed how different design
aspects of a warehouse, such as building performance and technology used,
affect greenhouse-gas emissions. The researchers used empirical data from
the US. They used factor analysis to identify specifc scenarios for reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions.
The primary focus of this research area has been the carbon footprint gen-
erated by forklift operations. Boenzi et al. (2015) developed a decision support
system that considers minimizing greenhouse-gas emissions from material-
handling activities in warehouses. The model considers forklift emissions in
the transportation, picking, storage, and retrieval processes and identifes the
storage method, as well as the type of forklift, which minimizes the energy
required during material-handling operations. In another study, Facchini et
al. (2016) built a forklift-selection simulation model considering the technical
characteristics of major forklift models and their GHG emissions. Two sources
of forklift fuel were considered, e.g., fossil-fuel and electricity. The simulation
results showed that electric forklifts are preferred in cases of light/medium-
weight units and are less emissive than fuel-powered forklifts.
On the other hand, Dadhich et al. (2015) used life-cycle analysis (LCA) to
identify GHG emissions in the drywall supply chain. The results showed that
the highest carbon emissions associated with warehousing come from han-
dling operations due to the use of diesel forklifts and electricity consumption
from warehouse lighting. The authors concluded that the implementation of
cross-docking and the use of renewable energy sources—wind energy, in
particular—are major decarbonization initiatives.
Cluster 4. Energy Effciency in Warehouses

Within this topic cluster, special attention was paid to energy effciency in
lighting systems, warehouse heating, and air-conditioning and ventilation sys-
tems. The energy effciency of warehouses was also evaluated according to
the level of automation of warehouse processes. Indeed, energy consumption
can be converted into greenhouse-gas emissions (Ries et al., 2017).
Pudleiner and Colton (2015) identifed a set of warehouse building energy-
effciency metrics that can be used for net-zero-energy building design. This
means that every unit of energy consumed by a building must be offset by
the generation of a unit of renewable energy. A vaccine warehouse was stud-
ied. The parameters studied were exterior wall insulation, window properties,
infltration, natural ventilation, lighting, and furnishings. Building control

parameters and their control have been shown to have a greater impact on
reducing energy consumption than architectural-design parameters.
On the other hand, Dhooma and Baker (2012) used an energy audit to
analyze the fnal energy consumption of warehouses. They considered differ-
ent types of end-use, i.e., lighting, equipment, and HVAC. The results showed
how energy can be stored according to end-use type, especially for HVAC and
lighting.
Fekete et al. (2014) proposed the application of an energy-consumption
monitoring process to material-handling processes, developing key per-
formance indicators from a technological, organizational, and economic
perspective. The approach presented in the publication follows the SECA
(Standardized Energy-Consuming Activities) scheme. The results of the study
case showed that the main consumption in warehouses comes from lighting
(36%) and material-handling equipment (32%), and that the cost of energy
consumption affects the total cost of the material-handling process by up
to 7%.
It can be seen that the analyzed cluster 4 is contained in cluster 1, which
means that energy effciency is also affected by the level of automation of
warehouse operations. In this context, Freis et al. (2016) developed math-
ematical models to determine energy demand in warehouses and presented
the results of a case study based on three different types of warehouses:
manual, semiautomated, and fully automated. The results confrmed that in a
manual warehouse, heating and cooling systems consume most of the energy,
while in semiautomated and fully automated warehouses, material-handling
equipment consumes the largest portion of energy. Makris et al. (2006) stud-
ied the order-picking problem, focusing on the trade-off between energy
consumption and product-picking time, and developed a routing algorithm
based on the traveling-salesman problem (TSP) that minimizes energy con-
sumption. On the other hand, Burinskiene et al. (2018) identifed the main
areas of energy and time wastage in warehouses and developed a mathemati-
cal model to improve the effciency of warehouse processes. Zaja˛c (2011)
developed a mathematical model to increase the energy effciency of the
process of transporting goods within a warehouse, taking into account the
energy consumption of lifting and transporting pallets and driving forklifts.
Similarly, Ene et al. (2016) proposed a genetic algorithm (GA) for solving
the order-grouping and routing problems with an approach that considered
two objectives: Minimizing travel time and energy consumption in a manual
warehouse.
Cluster 5. Sustainable Warehouse Management

This topic cluster ranges from environmental guidelines to an analysis of avail-
able initiatives, environmental certifcations, and sustainability standards to
reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in warehouses. Aspects of business ethics
and corporate social responsibility were also examined in this area. Tan et
al. (2010) and Amjed and Harrison (2013) analyzed the relationships between
social, economic, and environmental issues through key sustainability indica-
tors in warehouses. On the other hand, Bank and Murphy (2013) proposed
sustainability indicators for warehouse processes that ft into the Sustainable
Logistics Initiatives (SLI) developed by the International Warehouse Logistics
Association. Electricity consumption, recycling, liquid-fuel consumption, and
water consumption were identifed as the main SLI environmental indicators.
Similarly, Rüdiger et al. (2016) investigated a method for evaluating GHG emis-
sions from storage and handling activities by considering a set of environmen-
tal performance indicators (EPIs).
Building certifcation is also an important issue in sustainable warehouse
management. In his work, Żuchowski (2015) compared four methodologies
for warehouse building certifcation, i.e., Building Research Establishment
Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), Haute Qualité
Environnementale (HQE), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen
(DGNB), and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
Another issue explored in this topic cluster is the adoption of sustainabil-
ity standards and observance of cap-and-trade emission policies. Chen et al.
(2016) discussed the impact of cap-and-trade policies on warehouse-man-
agement decisions by examining the role of green technology investments.
The authors used data from a retailer’s warehouse to assess greenhouse-gas
emissions. The results highlighted that carbon cap pricing, as well as cap-
and-trade emission policies, can effectively reduce the carbon footprint of
warehouses.
3.6 Conclusions and implications for theory

and Practice
Due to the rise of global warming and change in biodiversity, there is increased
pressure on frms to improve environmental performance. Moreover, there is
an increased environmental awareness among the stakeholders which stimulates
the frms to minimize the negative environmental impact of frms’ operations
(Ming-Lang et al., 2019). Given the impact of the carbon tax on company com-
petitiveness (Lin & Li, 2011), in the coming years, green storage management will
become an inevitable requirement that has the potential to lead to signifcant
improvements in both operational effciency and energy effciency while promot-
ing the use of renewable energy sources.
The conducted research allows us to formulate the following conclusions.
First, the importance of GW has been increasing over time, which means
that environmental aspects in the warehousing area are playing an increas-
ingly important role. The study reveals that the University of Maribor and
the University of Udine are top contributing institutions in the GW area. This
study reveals that Meneghetti and Monti are the most infuential authors in
the GW area in several publications and citations. Moreover, Sustainability is
found to be the most popular journal regarding its impact and the number of
papers it publishes in this area. The study also reveals that China, Italy, and
the USA are dominating this discipline in terms of their impact and number
of publications.
The most frequently researched topics in GW were energy conservation
in warehousing, the environmental impact of warehouse construction and
equipment, and sustainable warehouse management (with a focus on envi-
ronmental aspects).
The author is aware of the existing limitations of the conducted bibliomet-
ric analysis. These mainly stem from:
1) Limitation to a selected bibliographic database (Web of Science) with

monographs and reports excluded. It would also be worth it to analyze
the resources of the Scopus and GoogleScholar databases, which, accord-
ing to Mingers and Lipitakis (2010), for the social sciences, are character-
ized by a higher coverage rate of publications of various types. For the
GS database, however, there are issues of reliability and transparency of
the data;
2) language restriction related to searching foreign databases for English-
language texts only;
3) time limitation; the study covered the period from 1990 to 2021.
Therefore, analyses that were: Conducted on other data sets; taken from
other databases; conducted at other times; on data retrieved using other
phrases; in other search felds; involving other types of documents; and con-
ducted with other conditions for exclusion from the data set, may yield differ-
ent results and lead to different interpretations.
The bibliometric analysis of publications referring to GW in the title was,

to the best of the author’s knowledge, one of the few studies conducted in
this area. However, the results obtained should be regarded as preliminary
and in need of verifcation, mainly due to the limitations stated above. From a
practical point of view, the results of this review show that the importance of
the carbon footprint of a warehouse and the waste of resources such as fuel,
electricity, and water can no longer be ignored. It is hoped that the analyses
presented in this review will systematize the available knowledge on GW and
increase the awareness of researchers and practitioners concerning warehouse
sustainability.
In practice, steps are being taken toward low-carbon warehousing and can be
achieved without signifcant capital investment. For example, simulation models
and sustainability guidelines exist to reduce warehouse greenhouse-gas emis-
sions, ranging from optimizing warehouse building design, lighting systems, and
installed equipment, to designing automated solutions for effcient energy use.
However, more research is needed to encourage new investment in GW facilities.
Further research directions may include, for example, full life-cycle warehouse
emissions testing. There is a lack of research on big data. Only a few papers
consider big data for evaluating GW performance. It might be useful to study
the overall energy consumption of a warehouse, including all end-use types. An
important direction would be researching environmental certifcations and cap-
and-trade emission policies of warehouses.
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Chapter 4
Reverse Logistics for

Sustainable Waste-
Management Processes
Adam Sadowski
University of Lodz, Poland
Contents
4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................74
4.2 Reverse Logistics Defnitions ...................................................................75
4.3 Methodology and Data ............................................................................76
4.3.1 Research Methodology.................................................................76
4.3.2 Data Collection .............................................................................77
4.4 Data Analysis and Results .......................................................................78
4.4.1 General View ................................................................................78
4.4.2 Co-citation Analysis ......................................................................80
4.4.3 Bibliographic Coupling ................................................................84
4.4.4 Co-Word Analysis .........................................................................84
Cluster 1. Remanufacturing and the Closed-Loop
Supply Chain................................................................86
Cluster 2. Sustainability and Waste Management .......................87
Cluster 3. Quantitative Methods in Reverse Logistics .................87
Cluster 4. Green Operations and Supply-Chain
Management.................................................................88
Cluster 5. Sustainable Supply-Chain Concepts ...........................89
4.5 Discussion and Conclusions....................................................................90
References .........................................................................................................91
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-5 73
4.1 introduction
Over the past three decades, research in logistics has moved towards one of
the biggest challenges for operations management, which is the waste stream
arising in all phases of physical fows. Even though reverse logistics has many
defnitions, approaches, conceptualizations, and practical applications, there
is still a lot of ambiguity in its defnition in the intellectual structure (Bernon
et al., 2011; Islam et al., 2021; Presley et al., 2007; Suzanne et al., 2020;
Wang & Hsu, 2010). The overall reverse logistics model covers diverse waste
streams and the environmental problems associated with them. As a result,
the thematic scope of the research is very broad and dynamically changing
along with the emergence of new global challenges, such as worn electric
car batteries (Alamerew & Brissaud, 2020). At the same time, the picture of
the contribution of reverse logistics to waste management is “blurred” as the
following terms are used in parallel: Closed-loop logistics (Tornese et al.,
2018; Wang et al., 2019), green logistics (Eng-Larsson & Kohn, 2012), reverse
supply chain (Battaïa & Gupta, 2015; Blackburn et al., 2004; Guide et al.,
2006), green supply chain (Homayouni et al., 2021), closed-loop supply chain
(Gaur et al., 2017; Van Wassenhove, 2019), sustainable logistics (Arampantzi &
Minis, 2017; Frota Neto et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2010), or environmental logis-
tics (Sarkis, 2021). In many publications, these terms appear simultaneously
and are used interchangeably, which adds signifcant diffculty to the map-
ping of this research area (Jemai et al., 2020). For this reason, the research in
this chapter is limited to reverse logistics only, abandoning the broader con-
ceptualization of existing knowledge in the areas of logistics, supply-chain
management, and management trainability.
The complexity of reverse logistics and its ambiguity also makes the intel-
lectual structure diverse, multifaceted, and multithreaded. Thanks to the use
of techniques within the framework of bibliometric methodology, network
analysis is a widely recognized approach in the scientifc community, used to
present the current and future developing thematic areas. It also shows the
interdependence between studies, researchers, institutions, and countries.
The identifcation of these clusters gives a clear picture of the intellectual
structure and offers an in-depth look into a complex network of connections.
The chapter provides an assessment of the research area, taking into account
more than 1,000 published articles on reverse logistics. Using rigorous biblio-
metric tools (e.g., citation and co-citation analyses), clusters describing previ-
ous research achievements and the future potential direction of changes in
research topics in reverse logistics were identifed.
Reverse Logistics for Sustainable Waste-Management Processes ◾ 75
The remaining part of the chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 pres-

ents defnitions of reverse logistics, showing their evolution and diversity.
Section 3 discusses the methodology and data used in the bibliometric analy-
sis. Section 4 contains the results of the bibliometric analysis. Section 5 shows
research limitations. The fnal section contains conclusions and presents the
main insights on the intellectual structure of reverse logistics.
4.2 Reverse Logistics Defnitions

There are many different perspectives on reverse logistics, which fnd
expression in the number of its defnitions. Although the earliest defni-
tions of reverse logistics appeared in the early nineties as a product “going
the wrong way down a one-way street because the great majority of
product shipments fow in one direction” (Lambert & James, 1982, p. 19),
more accurate, process- and function-oriented ones were formulated later
(Murphy & Poist, 1988; Stock, 1992, 1998). The Council of Supply Chain
Management Professionals (CSCMP) provides the following frequently
used defnition: “reverse logistics is a specialized segment of logistics
focusing on the movement and management of products and resources
after the sale and delivery to the customer. It includes product returns for
repair and/or credit.” Defnitions of reverse logistics differ signifcantly, as
far as the scope of problems and processes that constitute its essence is
concerned.
A more comprehensive defnition is provided by Rogers & Tibben-
Lembke (1999, p. 2). It states that “reverse logistics is the process of plan-
ning, implementing and controlling the effcient, cost-effective fow of raw
materials, in-process inventory, fnished goods, and related information from
the point of consumption to the point of origin to recapture or create value
or proper disposal.” The unique character of reverse logistics compared to
forward logistics has contributed to its evolution and the creation of original
empirical research paths. In this way, both the thematic scope of reverse
logistics and its subject matter have broadened. This, in turn, has led to
the development of a large and diverse body of knowledge in the feld of
reverse logistics (Agrawal et al., 2015; De Brito & Dekker, 2004; Huscroft
et al., 2013). However, the current large body of knowledge in the feld of
reverse logistics has not led to a clear demarcation between this concept and
other related concepts such as Green Logistics (GL) (Bensalem & Kin, 2019;
Rajagopal et al., 2015).
4.3 Methodology and Data

4.3.1 Research Methodology
The research uses bibliometric analysis based on the defnition of bibliomet-
rics. Bibliometrics is defned as a “quantitative study of physical published
units, or of bibliographic units, or the surrogates for either” (Broadus, 1987,
p. 376). Although the frst discussion on the use of bibliometrics began in the
early ffties, its use for research on intellectual achievements and its structure
in the areas of “business, management and accounting” and “decision sci-
ences” occurred much later. The use of bibliometric methods requires the
widespread availability of large codifed datasets on scientifc achievements.
The universality of access to bibliographic databases is important for the
replication of analyses by different researchers and the verifcation of the
correctness of conclusions drawn from the research. Currently, researchers
can use publicly available databases, such as Scopus or the Web of Science,
which collect enormous amounts of information useful for the analysis of
scientifc achievements. The increase in the amount of codifed knowledge
in databases has triggered the emergence of software designed to use these
knowledge resources. Currently available bibliometric software includes graph-
maker programs such as Citnetexplorer, Bibexcel, BibliometrixR, HistCite,
Gephi, Leximancer, Pajek, and VOSviewer. In this study, the latest version of
VOSviewer, 1.6.17, was used to draw up bibliometric maps to illustrate the
characteristics of publications. VOSviewer helps visualize bibliometric results
using bibliometric indicators in a researcher-friendly manner. It allows for the
direct use of Scopus data to generate a network visualization, which constitutes
the software’s advantage and speeds up the process of creating visualizations.
The bibliometric methodology has been used in research in various areas of
logistics and SCM, including the foundation of logistics and the supply-chain
management (Georgi et al., 2013), urban logistics (Dolati Neghabadi et al.,
2019), reverse logistics and closed-loop supply-chain management (Bensalem
& Kin, 2019; Campos et al., 2017; Kazemi et al., 2019), reverse logistics and
corporate social responsibility (Bensalem & Kin, 2019), and supply-chain
management (Kotzab et al., 2021; Pournader et al., 2021; Seyedghorban et
al., 2020). It is used in the area of logistics and supply-chain management in
three main areas of analysis. These areas include all available bibliographic
resources, selected journals, and one scientifc journal.
In this study, to conduct a review of the past, present and future of the
RL research feld, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-word
analysis were selected as analysis techniques (e.g., notable words in the impli-
cations and future research directions of full texts). We used the procedure
proposed by Donthu et al. (2021), which includes four stages: Defning the
purpose and scope of bibliometric analysis, selecting techniques for analysis,
collecting data, conducting analysis, and gathering insight. In the fnal stage,
the study used science mapping to show the intellectual structure of reverse
logistics through clustering and visualization.
4.3.2 Data Collection

Scopus (www.scopus.com) and the Web of Science (www.webofknowledge.
com) are the two major search engines for searching scholarly sources that
offer a signifcant variety of documents. Scopus, in particular, offers a wide
range of coverage of literature and is commonly used for bibliometric analy-
sis (e.g., co-citation analysis and co-word analysis) (Pournader et al., 2021).
This was the reason for using this particular database as a source of data on
the existing intellectual achievements in the area of reverse logistics. Scopus
is a source-neutral abstract and citation database curated by independent
subject-matter experts. The results of the search show that there are 3,908
records for the query TITLE-ABS-KEY (“reverse logistics”). The largest num-
ber of records corresponds to subject areas, such as engineering and busi-
ness, management and accounting, computer science, and decision sciences
(Table 4.1).
Subsequently, after a thorough screening of the abstracts of the articles, only
articles from the areas of Business, Management, Accounting, and Decision
Sciences were qualifed for the next stage. Such types of records as conference
papers, reviews, book chapters, conference reviews, books, editorials, errata,
or notes were removed. Our search results show that there are 1,109 articles
published in these areas. For 1,109 articles, the total number of footnotes is
27,883, which demonstrates the size of intellectual achievements in the area
of reverse logistics. Although the footnotes also contain infuential studies,
articles, and books, they were not included in the analysis. The research
includes the yearly distribution of the bibliographic records of RL articles over
29 years. A signifcant increase in the number of articles, which began in the
mid-2000s, can also be observed.
In 1992, the frst Stock’s white paper (1992) was published, starting a scien-
tifc discourse in the feld of reverse logistics. As in the research conducted by
Wang et al., the year 1992 was adopted as the starting point for bibliometric
analysis (Wang et al., 2017). To show signifcant changes in the development
table 4.1 top ten Subject Areas in Reverse Logistics.

Rank Subject area Number of records
1 Engineering 1,950
2 Business, Management and Accounting 1,457
3 Computer Science 1,176
4 Decision Sciences 986
5 Environmental Science 650
6 Mathematics 434
7 Social Sciences 400
8 Energy 284
9 Economics, Econometrics, and Finance 277
10 Materials Science 102
of reverse logistics, we divided the 29 years into three periods, which dif-
fer in the intensity of the increase in articles. The frst one (A), covers the
years 1992–2004 and corresponds to the frst research in the area of reverse
logistics. The second one (B), covering the years 2005–2013, is characterized
by a sharp increase in publications and a regular upward trend. The last
period (C), covering the years 2014–2021, like the preceding one, shows an
upward trend in the number of publications, with years in which there was
a signifcant decrease in the number of published articles. The division of a
dataset into periods is commonly used in bibliometric research and allows
for more accurate capture of publication trends. In our research, we adopted
about a decade as one in which changes in the development of the discipline
are visible. However, shorter, fve-year periods were also used for analysis in
reverse-logistics research (Wang et al., 2017, p. 670).
4.4 Data Analysis and Results

4.4.1 General View
The general upward trend in the number of articles published in the area of
reverse logistics can also be observed. It is interesting to present the most
signifcant authors, institutions, and journals as well as the most cited authors
and journals in the RL feld. Table 4.2 presents the ten most important journals
in which articles on RL have been published. During period A, the largest
number of articles were published in the European Journal of Operational
Research (ten), with a total of 68 articles, representing 14.7% of all articles.
During period B, the most, 11.4%, of all articles from the RL area were pub-
lished in the International Journal of Production Research. In the last ana-
lyzed period, C, the most publications, 19.2%, were published in the Journal
of Cleaner Production. Throughout the understudied period 1992–2021, we
can observe a considerable change in the profle of journals that publish
articles on RL research. At the same time, almost 30% of the latest research is
concentrated on one of the following three journals: The Journal of Cleaner
table 4.2 top ten Most Productive Journals in Reverse Logistics.

Rank 1992–2004 (68 papers) 2005–2013 (422 papers) 2014–2021 (619 papers)
1 European Journal of 10 International Journal 1 European Journal of 10
Operational of Production Operational
Research Research Research
2 International Journal of 8 International Journal 2 International Journal 8
Production of Production of Production
Economics Economics Economics
3 International Journal of 6 International Journal 3 International Journal of 6
Physical Distribution of Logistics Systems Physical Distribution
and Logistics and Management and Logistics
Management Management
4 OR Spectrum 5 Computers and 4 OR Spectrum 5
Operations Research
5 Interfaces 4 European Journal of 5 Interfaces 4
Operational Research
6 International Journal 4 Journal of Cleaner 6 International Journal 4
of Logistics Production of Logistics
Management Management
7 Journal of Business 4 International Journal of 7 Journal of Business 4
Logistics Physical Distribution Logistics
and Logistics
Management
(Continued)
table 4.2 (Continued) top ten Most Productive Journals in Reverse Logistics.
Rank 1992–2004 (68 papers) 2005–2013 (422 papers) 2014–2021 (619 papers)
8 Journal of the 3 Transportation 8 Journal of the 3
Operational Research Part E: Operational
Research Society Logistics and Research Society
Transportation Review
9 Omega 3 Omega 9 Omega 3
10 Production and 3 International Journal of 10 Production and 3
Operations Business Performance Operations
Management and Supply Chain Management
Modelling
Production, the International Journal of Production Economics, and the

International Journal of Production Research.
Table 4.3 shows the authors who wrote the most articles between 1992
and 2012. The largest number of articles (eight) in period A was published
by Fleischmann, M., and in period B: Adenso-Díaz, B. Kannan, G., Ravi, V.,
and Shankar, R. In the last period (2014–2021), the largest number of articles
(ffteen) were published by Govindan, K. At the same time, we can note that
the names of these authors do not repeat in the rankings, which is related to
the dynamics of the development of the RL feld. The only author to appear
twice in periods A and B is Van Wassenhove, L.N.
4.4.2 Co-citation Analysis

Co-citation analysis forms clusters of scholarly sources that are frequently
co-cited in a pool of articles (Small, 1973). To identify the clusters of reverse-
logistics research, co-citation analysis, a widely accepted approach, was used
(Fahimnia et al., 2015). It allows researchers to examine the existing links
between articles that were published as part of the dataset of all articles in the
area of reverse logistics. Co-citation analysis is a technique for science map-
ping that assumes publications that are cited together frequently are similar
thematically (Hjørland, 2013).
The analysis can be used to reveal the intellectual structure of a research
feld, such as thematically similar research areas. The idea behind clustering
through co-citation analysis is that the higher the frequency of the co-cita-
tion of each pair of references, the higher the likelihood of these references
table 4.3 the Most Productive Authors by the number of Papers.
Rank 1992–2004 Documents Rank 2005–2013 Documents Rank 2014–2021 Documents
1 Fleischmann, M. 8 1 Adenso-Díaz, B. 8 1 Govindan, K. 15
2 Daugherty, P.J. 5 1 Kannan, G., 8 2 Soleimani, H. 9
Reverse Logistics for Sustainable Waste-Management Processes ◾

2 Dekker, R. 5 1 Ravi, V. 8 3 Shankar, R. 7
3 Autry, C.W. 4 1 Shankar, R. 8 4 Singh, S.R. 6
3 Minner, S. 4 2 Kumar, S. 7 5 Agrawal, S. 5
3 Vlachos, D. 4 3 Hazen, B.T. 6 5 Chileshe, N. 5
4 Guide, V.D.R. 3 4 Chan, F.T.S. 5 5 Diabat, A. 5
4 Kiesmüller, G.P. 3 4 Chan, H.K. 5 5 Garza-Reyes, J.A. 5
4 Krikke, H.R. 3 4 Corominas, A. 5 5 Jha, P.C. 5
4 Van Wassenhove, L.N. 3 4 Genchev, S.E. 5 5 Kumar, V. 5
4 Hall, D.J. 5 5 Rameezdeen, R. 5
4 Hanna, J.B. 5 5 Singh, R.K. 5
4 Jayaraman, V. 5 5 Singh, S.P. 5
4 Li, Y. 5
4 Mukhopadhyay, S.K. 5
4 Saen, R.F. 5
4 Sarkis, J. 5
4 Tang, O. 5
4 Van Wassenhove, L.N. 5
81
forming a cluster and converging to a similar topic. Each cluster, therefore,

contains a set of co-cited references that have a strong connection among
them and a weaker connection to the rest of the clusters. Co-citation analysis
only focuses on highly cited publications, which makes it useful for identi-
fying the most important works that form the basis of a given feld. These
works are usually the starting point for the development of a given feld of
knowledge.
Table 4.4 presents the ten most important articles in the entire set of articles
in the area of reverse logistics. It can be assumed that they had a huge impact
on the dynamics of the development of the intellectual structure, giving rise
to various research paths, including niche ones. Co-citation analysis revealed
the existence of fve thematic clusters (Figure 4.1).
table 4.4 top ten Cited RL Papers.

Number of
Rank References Title citations
1 (Dowlatshahi, 2000) “Developing a theory of reverse logistics” 74
2 (Carter & Ellram, “Reverse logistics: a review of the literature 72
1998) and framework for future investigation”
3 (Govindan et al., “Reverse logistics and the closed-loop 41
2015) supply chain: A comprehensive review to
explore the future”
4 (Fleischmann “The impact of product recovery on 37
et al., 2001) logistics network design”
5 (Rogers & Tibben- “An examination of reverse logistics 32
Lembke, 2001) practices”
6 (Daugherty et al., “Information support for reverse logistics: 30
2002) the infuence of relationship commitment”
7 (Srivastava, 2008) “Network design for reverse logistics” 30
8 (Jayaraman et al., “The design of reverse distribution 27
2003) networks: models and solution procedures”
9 (Pokharel & “Perspectives in reverse logistics: a review” 26
Mutha, 2009)
10 (Ravi & Shankar, “Analysis of interactions among the 25
2005) barriers to reverse logistics”
Co-Citations Cluster Map.
Figure 4.1
4.4.3 Bibliographic Coupling

Bibliographic coupling is a technique for science mapping that operates on
the assumption that two publications sharing common references are also
similar in their content (Weinberg, 1974). Thus, the analysis concentrates on
the division of publications into thematic clusters based on shared references.
Some studies emphasize the need to refer the analysis to a specifc time
frame, e.g., a decade, which allows one to track changes taking place in a
given feld (Martyn, 1964). However, as indicated by Prathap et al. (2021),
this view of document similarity is fxed in time since the cited documents
have fxed bibliographies. Bibliographic coupling is based on the assump-
tion that thematic clusters are formed based on the cited publications. Unlike
co-citation analysis, recent and niche publications can gain visibility through
bibliographic coupling. As a consequence, the bibliographic coupling is suit-
able for business scholars who want to discover a wide range of topics as well
as recent research trends. This means that the analysis can be considered a
representation of the presence of the research feld. The analysis carried out
shows six thematic clusters containing current studies on reverse logistics.
They evidence similarities in different researcher perspectives on the prob-
lems found within the area of reverse logistics.
4.4.4 Co-Word Analysis

In the previous two techniques for science mapping, attention in the research
was focused on publications in the area of reverse logistics. Co-word analysis,
also referred to as co-occurrence analysis, is a technique that examines the
actual content of the publication itself. The words in a co-word analysis are
often derived from “author keywords” and, in their absence, notable words
can also be extracted from “keywords,” “article titles,” “abstracts,” “index,” and
“full texts” for the analysis (Emich et al., 2020). Co-word analysis assumes,
like co-citation analysis, that words that frequently appear together have a
thematic relationship with one another. In this way, they create thematic areas
focused around a relatively homogeneous theme. However, co-word analysis
also has certain imperfections. These are mainly related to the fact that some
words are very general, e.g., “logistics” occurs in a very large number of
articles, sometimes in quite unexpected contexts and meanings. As a result,
they can be assigned to several thematic clusters, which “blur” the image of
connections between words.
The use of co-word analysis can be treated as a strategic discovery of

topics in which research in a given feld is concentrated. As emphasized
by Chang et al. (2015), co-word analysis can be used as a supplement
to enrich the understanding of thematic clusters derived from co-citation
analysis of bibliographic coupling. Therefore, research assumes that co-
word analysis sets the future directions of research areas. Figure 4.2
shows the visualization of keywords for the thematic area of reverse
logistics.
Keyword-frequency analysis was carried out for the entire set of keywords
(4,575 words) in the article set. After setting the parameter of the occurrence
Figure 4.2 A Co-Word Cluster Map.

of a word in the set to a minimum of ten, a total of 155 keywords were

obtained. The visualization shows fve thematic clusters. The most common
keywords in the set of all documents are “reverse logistics” (778), “logistics”
(258), “supply chains” (165), “remanufacturing” (118), “recycling” (114), “deci-
sion making” (96), “sustainable development” (94), “closed-loop supply chain”
(80), “sustainability” (78), and “integer programming” (77). In parentheses, the
frequency of occurrence of a given word in the whole set is given.
Cluster 1. Remanufacturing and the Closed-Loop

Supply Chain
The top-middle cluster includes articles discussing the remanufacturing
of used products. Jayaraman et al. (1999) prove that recoverable product
environments are becoming an increasingly important segment of the pro-
duction environment. The ecologically oriented production environment
offers customers an extended product life cycle through remanufactur-
ing or repair. Reverse fows of materials and products from the customer
to the remanufacturer and forward fows from the remanufacturer to the
customer are characterized by a specifc type of supply chain. Their com-
plexity requires the design of a closed-loop logistics system, taking into
account the location of objects as well as managerial uses of the model for
logistics decision making. Another article (Majumder & Groenevelt, 2001)
considers the model of remanufacturing an original-equipment manufac-
turer (OEM) in the face of competition. In the model, they take into account
various stimuli that make manufacturers increase the fraction available for
remanufacturing or reduce remanufacturing costs. This trend also includes
research focused on explaining the operation of coordination mechanisms
in decentralized channels and decentralized decision-making systems with
the manufacturer being the leader. It is important to compare these solu-
tions with a centrally coordinated system to determine the level of proft-
ability of remanufacturing used products into new ones (Savaskan et al.,
2004).
In the review studies of Guide Jr. & Van Wassenhove (2009), remanufac-
turing is considered from the point of view of closed-loop supply chains
with a strong business perspective. The evolutionary approach involves the
development and transition from a narrow, technically focused niche area to a
fully recognized subfeld of supply-chain management. We can fnd a similar
nature of review in the research conducted by Souza (2013), which presents a
review and tutorial of the literature on closed-loop supply chains. It contains
reverse fows of used products (postconsumer use) back to manufacturers.

This article discusses base models with underlying assumptions, results, and
comments on extensions. Finally Atasu et al. (2013) discuss the impact of the
collection cost structure on the optimal reverse-channel choice of manufactur-
ers who remanufacture their products.
Cluster 2. Sustainability and Waste Management

The bottom-left cluster encompasses articles taking a general perspective on
sustainability and waste management. Nagurney and Toyasaki (2005) devel-
oped an integrated framework for the modeling of the reverse supply-chain
management of electronic waste, which includes recycling. They describe
the behavior of the various decision makers: Recyclers, processors, as well
as consumers associated with the demand markets. Sarkis et al. (2010) drew
attention to social and ethical dimensions of sustainability, particularly as they
apply to reverse logistics. The environmental implications of reclamation,
reuse, and recycling to save landfll space, fuel, and costs are becoming more
important for organizations, especially in the context of social sustainability.
In their research, Chaabane et al. (2012) presented a framework for a sus-
tainable supply-chain design that considers life-cycle assessment (LCA). The
proposed framework distinguishes between solid and liquid wastes, as well
as gaseous emissions resulting from various production processes and trans-
portation systems. At the same time, current legislation and emissions-trading
schemes (ETS) must be harmonized at a global level to drive a meaningful
environmental strategy.
Hsu et al. (2013), using survey data collected from ISO 14001 certifed
organizations, indicated that crucial drivers motivating frms to adopt green
supply-chain management can be measured by a second-order construct
related to the implementation of the frm’s green supply-chain initiatives. In
their research, they pointed to green purchasing, design-for-environment, and
reverse-logistics initiatives as key to the adoption of the green supply-chain
concept. Finally, Brandenburg et al. (2014) provide content analysis of 134
carefully identifed papers on quantitative, formal models that address sustain-
ability aspects in the forward Supply Chain (SC).
Cluster 3. Quantitative Methods in Reverse Logistics

The bottom-right cluster remains in the line of research and application
of quantitative methods in reverse logistics. The basis of the researchers’
interest is the recovery of used products due to growing environmental

concerns. Fleischmann et al. (1997) subdivide the reverse-logistics feld into
three main areas, namely distribution planning, inventory control, and pro-
duction planning. They drew attention to the implications of emerging reuse
efforts as well as a review of mathematical models proposed in the litera-
ture. They also pointed to differences and similarities about classical “for-
ward” logistics methods. In other articles (Fleischmann et al., 2000, 2001),
the authors identify the general characteristics of product recovery networks
and compare them with traditional logistics structures. They also derive a
classifcation scheme for different types of recovery networks. The articles
present a generic facility location model to analyze the impact of product
return fows on logistics networks. They point out that the effcient imple-
mentation of closed-loop supply chains requires changes in logistics struc-
tures for the arising fows of used and recovered products (Melo et al., 2009).
Supply-chain performance measures, optimization techniques, and aspects
related to the structure of the supply-chain network, including those spe-
cifc to reverse logistics, are also addressed. For Sarkis et al. (2010), the key
issue is supporting the relationship between the stakeholder and resource-
based theory as a complementary theoretical framework. This relationship
is supported by the link between institutional theory and the dimensions
of dynamic capabilities in resource-based theory about environmentally ori-
ented reverse-logistics practices.
Cluster 4. Green Operations and Supply-Chain Management

The fourth cluster includes articles focused on problems of green supply-chain
management (GSCM). Sheu et al. (2005) present an optimization-based model
that systematically optimizes the operations of both integrated logistics and
corresponding used-product reverse logistics in a given green supply chain.
The next article (Laosirihongthong et al., 2013) examines the deployment of
proactive and reactive practices in the implementation of green supply-chain
management (GSCM). The results of this study demonstrate that reverse-logis-
tics practices (proactive practices) have had low levels of adoption and do not
have a signifcant impact on GSCM performance.
In-depth research conducted by Govindan et al. (2014), using a deductive
research approach to derive a conceptual model, identifes the practices with
a signifcant impact on supply-chain sustainability. These are “waste elimina-
tion,” “supply chain risk management,” and “cleaner production.” The research
provides a taxonomy for lean, resilient, and green supply-chain management

practices at three levels: upstream, organization, and downstream. The authors
(Govindan and Soleimani (2017; Govindan et al. (2017), taking into account
articles published in the Journal of Cleaner Production (JCP), clarify the main
trends in reverse logistics and closed-loop supply-chain subjects, and also pro-
vide a systematic view on developing reverse logistics and closed-loop supply
chains. Uncertain business environments provide a comprehensive review of
studies in the felds of supply chain network design and reverse-logistics net-
work design.
Cluster 5. Sustainable Supply-Chain Concepts

The last cluster, located in the middle of our map, addresses global con-
cepts of sustainable supply chains. Van Hoek (1999) looks at challenges
for research on green supply chains, as a step towards lowering the eco-
logic footprint of supply chains. Research shows the need for developing a
grounded theory, and frameworks that go beyond the partial and fragmented
contribution of reversed logistics. Lu et al. (2007) prove that the green supply
chain (GSC) is a broad concept that refers to a variety of methods by which
companies work with their suppliers to improve the environmental perfor-
mance of their products or the manufacturing processes of the suppliers
or customers. It combines specifed environmental performance criteria and
helps suppliers recognize the importance of resolving environmental issues.
Finally, Quariguasi Frota Neto et al. (2009), by designing a complex recycling
logistics network in Germany, posit that visual exploration of the effcient
frontier and trade-offs between proftability and environmental impacts are
particularly suitable in sustainable supply chains.
To summarize, the study of the fve clusters presents different approaches
and analytical capabilities used by the article authors. The frst cluster focuses
on the problems associated with remanufacturing in terms of the effectiveness
of closed-loop supply chains. The second cluster offers a broad view of waste
management from the perspective of sustainability and the environmental
implications of a reverse supply chain. Unlike the frst two clusters, the third
one primarily exposes the use of quantitative methods in reverse logistics
using different theoretical approaches. The fourth cluster focuses on under-
standing business practices and the decision-making process in green supply-
chain management. The fnal, ffth cluster is more conceptual as it considers
and analyzes the existing theoretical framework for sustainable supply chains.
4.5 Discussion and Conclusions

This study presents an analysis of reverse logistics (RL), an emerging
research feld aimed at solving environmental problems within the frame-
work of supply-chain management. The novel contribution of the chapter is
a proposal of a theoretical framework for related concepts that occur in the
area of sustainability-oriented supply-chain management. Such concepts as
CLSCM, EL, GL, GSCM, SL, SCM, and SSCM refer to the problem of waste,
often in an ambiguous way. As in other studies (e.g., Guarnieri et al., 2015),
we started with the qualitative analysis of existing achievements in the area
of reverse logistics and then directed the research to bibliometric analysis.
The use of bibliometric analysis allowed us to determine the links between
these concepts and RL.
The results include a fve-cluster confguration from the co-citation map,
which was identifed by a mapping algorithm. It proves that there is relative
isolation between the fve lines of research. However, studies in clusters 4 and
5 interpenetrate, to a large extent, with other, more clearly designated clusters.
This suggests the emergence of new thematic areas, based on more well-
established concepts such as reverse logistics. This is evidenced by research
conducted by Bensalem & Kin (2019), in which four isolated thematic clusters
were identifed. The emergence of an additional cluster over three years clearly
shows the dynamics of changes occurring in the conducted research and the
gradual transition from reverse logistics to new concepts, such as SSCM or
GSCM. At the same time, it may indicate a lack of maturity of research on
reverse logistics in terms of the debate between a business versus an environ-
mental orientation of the development of modern supply chains. At the same
time, the majority of the latest research results are concentrated in one of three
journals: Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Production
Economics, and International Journal of Production Research, which profles
the studies and sets research directions in line with the journals’ objectives.
However, the number of articles in the area of reverse logistics, including
1,109 items published over almost 30 years, demonstrates an upward trend.
Three periods: A, B, and C can be distinguished in the increase in the num-
ber of publications. The frst two, covering the years 1992–2013, show a stable
growth rate in the number of publications in the area of reverse logistics. The
third period (2014–2021), along with periods of decline in the number of pub-
lications, clearly indicate the change and emergence of new concepts within
which the problem of waste is considered.
Co-citation analysis clearly shows that the development of the reverse-

logistics theory included fundamental axiological problems and their con-
ceptualization, which created a theoretical framework for the development
of further research in the following decades. The initial narrow orientation in
research, e.g., on used-product remanufacturing, was gradually replaced by
a broader SC perspective, which included specifc research areas. GL, SL, or
GSCM serve as good examples of this.
The study presents some limitations that result from bibliometric methods.
Summing up the problems, we can mention a loss of relevant papers, the
overrepresentation of theoretical articles, the inclusion of nonrelevant papers,
and the exclusion of highly relevant papers. In general, the problem concerns
the quality of the initial article database which, when processed, provides a
graphical picture of research in a given feld in the form of analytical maps.
An important issue is also a lack of reference of keywords in co-word analy-
sis to the context in which they were used. Despite these shortcomings, the
growing number of published bibliometric studies demonstrates that it is a
widely accepted methodology and approach to determining the structure of
knowledge in a given area of science. This is especially true for well-estab-
lished areas of research, such as logistics and SCM, characterized by signif-
cant scientifc achievements demonstrated in a large number of published
articles.
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SUStAinABLe SUPPLY- ii
CHAin MAnAGeMent
Chapter 5
Should We Rethink Supply-

Chain Management?
insights from Global-
Value-Chain Approach
Michał Pietrzak
Contents
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 102
5.2 Fragmentation of Production Processes, and the Old and
New Globalization .................................................................................103
5.3 Supply-Chain Management in the Face of the Challenges
of Recent Uncertainties..........................................................................106
5.4 Global-Value-Chain (GVC) Approach ................................................... 110
5.5 What New Insights Could Be Drawn for SCM from the
GVC Approach?......................................................................................113
5.6 Implications ............................................................................................ 117
5.6.1 Framework.................................................................................. 117
5.6.2 Asymmetries in Power and Value Distribution .........................120
5.6.3 Orientors as Normative References ...........................................122
5.6.4 The Role of Nation-States ..........................................................125
5.7 Concluding Remarks ..............................................................................129
References .......................................................................................................132
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-7 101

5.1 introduction
According to Ansell and Boin (2019, p. 1,079), “modern societies are increas-
ingly faced with ‘unknown unknowns,’ Black Swans, and mega-crises.”
Unexpectedly, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and supply shortages experi-
enced in many countries at the beginning of the pandemic, the term “supply
chain” became a new buzzword in the public consciousness (Gereff, 2020).
Some critics started to question popular business practices such as just-in-time
or lean management spreading worldwide within supply chains, which were
demystifed as neglecting vital safety margins (Financial Times, 2020, 2021;
O’Leary, 2020; Shih, 2020). Other authors even asked if we were witnessing
the end of globalization as we knew it, and predicted re-shoring, a greater
regionalization of supply chains, or at least more redundancy and diversifca-
tion of built-in supply chains (Farrell & Newman, 2020; Gereff, 2020; O’Neil,
2020; Shih, 2020). These concerns were not only due to the pandemic but also
due to many other events and processes observed roughly in the last decade:
The global fnancial crisis, the digital revolution, the outbreak of populism,
and economic nationalism (Gereff, 2020). Currently, the world is experiencing
another crisis due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Overall, it seems that it is becoming clearer and clearer that the current
approach to global supply chains should be rethought as there is a need for
more viable, resilient, robust, or even “antifragile” (cf. Taleb, 2012) supply
chains. Looking for a new approach, I would like to propose a review of dif-
ferent strands of literature that concern the issue of chains. The most criticized
business practices in global supply chains were developed mainly in one
such strand, namely, supply-chain management (SCM) rooted in logistics and
operational management. There are, however, other strands. Among them
is the widely recognized value-chain approach proposed in Porter’s (1998
[1985]) seminal book. However, there is a less popular but very promising
strand of literature, which could be called the socioeconomic strand, which
is represented by the world-systems theory, the commodity-chain approach,
and the global-commodity-chain (GCC) approach. Finally, the newest and
most eclectic approach has appeared, namely the global value chain (GVC).
This last approach could be, in my opinion, considered to form the basis
of rethinking global supply chains and their improvement in the upcoming
post-pandemic era.
The aim of this chapter is to discuss two approaches underlying global
supply chains (SCM and GVC) and to fnd potential for their cross-fertilization.
The main research question is: How could the GVC approach complement
Should We Rethink Supply-Chain Management? ◾ 103
SCM to address the present need of incorporating more resiliency in global

supply chains regarding the recent challenges and uncertainties faced by
the global economy? This chapter is based on literature review and a critical
discussion.
The chapter organization is as follows. It starts with a short introduction
(5.1). The crucial processes from the point of view of the origins of global sup-
ply chains are presented in section 5.2. Then the Supply-Chain Management
(SCM) approach, in the context of recent challenges (COVID-19, the war in
Ukraine), is discussed (5.3). Section 5.4 presents the genealogy and main
thoughts of the global-value-chain approach, while in section 5.5., the main
insight that could be drawn for SCM from GVC. In liteterature are used both
acronyms GVC and GVCs, however I would like to unify this acronym within
the whole text. Thus, I would like to use GVC when I refer to the Global Value
Chain approach or to the particular global value chain in singular. I would like
to use GVCs when I refer to the global value chains in plural are discussed.
Then the implications of these insights are presented (5.6). Finally, this chapter
ends with concluding remarks and some research propositions (5.7), which
could be further explored in future studies.
5.2 Fragmentation of Production Processes,

and the old and new Globalization
Let us start with the phenomenon of fragmentation or the splitting up of previ-
ously vertically integrated production processes (Jones & Kierzkowski, 1990,
2000), which could be generally explained by referring to Stigler’s (1951) semi-
nal paper, which was ahead of its time (cf. Odersteijn et al., 2004). Stigler (1951,
p. 187) wrote: “the frm is usually viewed as purchasing a series of inputs, from
which it obtains one or more saleable products, the quantities of which are
related to the quantities of the inputs by a production function.… it is better
to view the frm as engaging in a series of distinct operations: purchasing and
storing materials; transforming materials into semifnished products and semi-
fnished products into fnished products; storing and selling outputs; extend-
ing credit to buyers; etc. That is, we partition the frm… into the functions or
processes constituting the scope of its activity.”
Let us assume that this scope of activity (done under one frm umbrella)
covers three processes (P1, P2, and P3), the costs of which are independent
of each other. The costs of these processes are different, showing increasing
returns to scale (P1), decreasing returns to scale (P2), and behavior according
to the classic U-shaped curve (P3). The U-shaped cost curve means that the
costs decrease with increasing scale to some extent, but beyond some thresh-
old of the scale costs tend to rise. Due to this different nature of cost behav-
ior, the size of the frm will refect some kind of compromise between local
optima for processes P1–P3. One could ask, however, that since the P1 pro-
cess has increasing economies of scale, why doesn’t this frm just increase the
size of its business? The obstacle is, of course, diseconomies of scale resulting
from the cost characteristics of other processes. One could continue his/her
query and ask why has the company not taken advantage of outsourcing? The
frm, through the outsourcing of P1, could leverage increasing returns to scale
in this process.
The problem, Stigler (1951) explains, is that the demand for P1’s products
may be too small relative to the scale needed to attract the interest of a spe-
cialized outsourcer. This brings us to the heart of the issue called Smith’s
Theorem: “As is the power of exchanging that gives occasion to the division
of labor, so the extent of this division of labor must always be limited by the
extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market” Smith
(2003 [1776], p. 27).
Now globalization comes into the foreground. “As by means of water-
carriage, a more extensive market is opened to every sort of industry than
what land-carriage alone can afford, so… that industry of every kind naturally
begins to subdivide and improve itself” (Smith, 2003 [1776], p. 27). The pos-
sibilities of extending markets, since Smith, have developed substantially. The
frst breakthrough was the steam revolution. “Steam power allowed humans
to conquer intercontinental distances and reshape the world in ways that were
unimaginable with horse, wind, and water power” (Baldwin, 2019, p. 49). The
“Old Globalization” or the “frst unbundling,” according to Baldwin (2019), has
started.
When costs of moving goods are high, only very few of them could eco-
nomically be shipped over anything but close distance. This problem made
production bundled with consumption. “In the pre-globalization world, dis-
tance isolated people and production to such an extent that the world economy
was little more than a patchwork of village-level economies” (Baldwin, 2019,
p. 4). This state started to change when product transportation costs fell. Thus,
“Old Globalization” can be thought of as a progressive unleashing of produc-
tion from a “hostage” of consumption, which started around 1820. While costs
of moving goods fell, other costs of distance still mattered, namely the costs of
moving ideas and the costs of moving people. Therefore, markets expanded
globally, but production clustered locally. This progressive reversal of bundling
production and consumption due to the decrease in costs of transportation of

products were the “frst unbundling” (Baldwin, 2019).
According to Baldwin, this “Old Globalization” process could be divided
into three stages: The development of international trade due to falling trade
costs (1820–1913); then the confrontation of world powers—with two World
Wars and the Great Depression in between them—and, therefore, the recur-
rence of re-bundling (1914–1945); and the fnal stage of frst unbundling based
on trade liberalization (1947’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and
transportation innovations, e.g., containerization (1946–1990) (cf. Baldwin,
2019, pp. 47–78). The result of the frst unbundling was the boom of interna-
tional trade and “The Great Divergence” due to the new worldwide division
of labor between the global “North” (innovations and value-added products)
and the “South” (natural resources, raw materials, and simple commodities).
However, since the 1990s new structural changes have arisen, namely a revo-
lution in information and communication technology (ICT), which “produced
a transition from… globalization’s frst unbundling to… a second unbundling1”
(Baldwin, 2019, p. 80). ICT capacity grew at a tremendous annual rate of growth:
23% in information storage, 28% in telecommunications, and 58% in compu-
tational power. As a result, just the increment of the volume of information
between 2006 and 2007 was 1.06 × 1036 times bigger than the sum of all infor-
mation transmitted in the previous decade (Baldwin, 2019, p. 82). Such capacity
development was complemented by the rise of the Internet. While steam power
allowed to lower trade costs of moving products, the ICT revolution radically
lowered the costs of communication and, therefore, facilitated the easy moving
of ideas. The ICT revolution was complemented by the further development of
transportation innovations including containerization and, particularly, the devel-
opment of air cargo (Baldwin, 2019).
Let us go back to Stigler’s (1951) work. From a very generally simplifed
point of view, the development path described above follows Smith’s Theorem.
Due to extending markets (frst from local to domestic ones), splitting previ-
ously integrated processes into separate fragments of production (outsourc-
ing) opens up possibilities for exploiting yields from specialization (increasing
returns to scale in process P1 in our example). “Although such fragmentation
is likely to occur frst on… a national basis, signifcant cuts in the costs of
international co-ordination often allow producers to take advantage of differ-
ences in technologies and factor prices among countries in designing more
global production networks” (Jones & Kierzkowski, 2000, p. 1). Through out-
sourcing and offshoring, a new phenomenon arises, namely global supply
chains, a.k.a. global value chains.2
Even though these terms are usually used almost interchangeably, as names
of some specifc form of interorganizational relations, one should be aware
of the difference between the supply-chain-management (SCM) approach to
this phenomenon and the global-value-chain (GVC) approach. Both SCM and
GVC are separate schools of thought,3 with different genealogy and theoretical
backgrounds. In my opinion, this creates an occasion for the cross-fertilization
of both approaches. Here we will focus on challenges faced by SCM due to
recent uncertainties (COVID-19, the war in Ukraine) and will try to fgure out
how the GVC approach could shed light on some challenges connected with
them.
5.3 Supply-Chain Management in the Face of

the Challenges of Recent Uncertainties
The concept of the supply chain appeared in the 1970s and was initially
focused on the integration of logistics operations within enterprises to reduce
costs (Camps, 2004). According to Coyle et al. (1996), responsibility for various
logistic functions and tasks was traditionally dispersed across various depart-
ments of enterprises. Gradually, these responsibilities began to be encapsu-
lated into two broad tasks: Materials management and physical distribution.
Finally, all these tasks were integrated into the logistics supply chain (Coyle
et al., 1996), which prevents attempts to improve logistics against the problem
of suboptimization.4
However, logistics students gradually started to think about the supply chain
in a broader context, i.e., going beyond the boundaries of a single company
(Camps, 2004; Sweeney, 2011) and consisting of a sequence of related enter-
prises (Lazzarini et al., 2001; van der Vorst, 2004). Integration and matching are
at the heart of the supply-chain concept (Christopher, 2011; Storey et al., 2006).
According to Fawcett and Magnan (2002), four levels of integration can be identi-
fed: Internal (inter-functional), backward (with direct suppliers), forward (with
direct buyers), and complete back and forth (from suppliers delivering to direct
suppliers, to customers buying from direct customers). Thus, while at its incep-
tion the concept of the supply chain concerned the frst level, nowadays it is
usually interpreted in terms of the fourth level of integration.
In this broader sense, the term supply chain was frst used in the early
1980s by Oliver and Weber (1982). The Council of Supply Chain Management
Professionals (CSCMP) regards the supply chain as follows: “1) starting with
unprocessed raw materials and ending with the fnal customer using fnished
goods, the supply chain links many companies together. 2) the material and
informational interchanges in the logistics process stretch from the acquisition
of raw materials to the delivery of fnished products to the end-user. All ven-
dors, service providers, and customers are links in the supply chain” (Supply
Chain . . ., 2013, p. 186).
The central issue for the supply-chain concept is to move away from look-
ing at these links separately through an integrated view. In this context,
the idea of supply-chain management appears. Supply-chain management,
according to the CSCMP defnition, includes the planning and coordination
of all activities related to procurement, processing, logistics, and cooperation
with partners such as suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers,
and customers—the essence of which is “linking major business functions
and business processes within and across companies to create a cohesive and
high-performing business model” (Supply Chain . . ., 2013, p. 187). Striving for
the integrated coordination of all links in the chain prompts us to consider
effciency and competitiveness not only at the level of its individual links but
above all at the level of the entire supply chain (Jarze˛bowski, 2012; Klepacki
& Wicki, 2014; Sweeney et al., 2018).
Typically, the integrated approach to supply-chain management focuses on
cost minimization5 (Camps, 2004). In the case of a nonintegrated (or fragmented)
supply chain, product fows between economic entities take place in a series
of cycles located at the interface between the links of the chain (van der Vorst,
2004). This way of functioning causes the necessity to buffer each link by secur-
ing stocks against the uncertainty resulting from the diffculties in the mutual
synchronization of production fows with use/consumption. In particular, the
upstream links experience uncertainty regarding the volume of orders, while
the downstream links experience uncertainty regarding the stability of supplies.
Moreover, as Forester has shown, even slight disturbances in the downstream
links of the chain tend to build up as we follow the chain upstream. This phe-
nomenon causes considerable diffculties and overstocking; the more severe,
the more the upstream link is considered. It is known as the Forester effect
or the bullwhip effect (cf. Forrester, 2013 [1961]; Meadows, 2008; Senge, 2006;
Sterman, 2000; van der Vorst, 2004). Thus, the most obvious incentive for the
integration of the supply chain is, therefore, the opening and streamlining of
information channels and striving to reduce uncertainty thanks to information
freely fowing up and down within the chain and, consequently, due to a reduc-
tion (ideally—elimination) of inventories and related costs (Baran et al., 2008).
Global supply chains were challenged substantially by the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. The end of 2019 and the begin-
ning of 2020 saw the start of the SARS-CoV-2 proliferation, which rapidly spread
throughout the world. In March 2020 the pandemic was announced by the
World Health Organization. The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted the
complex structure of global supply chains. As a consequence of the introduc-
tion of pandemic emergencies worldwide (lockdowns, the closures of factories
and offces), the many linkages within global supply chains were disrupted.
Subsequent variants of SARS-CoV-2 weaken the global recovery.
Mobility restrictions and chain volatility have continued to weigh on activ-
ity, up till now. COVID-19—in the third year of the pandemic—continues
to fuel uncertainty. According to the very recent report of the International
Monetary Fund, supply disruptions cut 0.5%–1% off global GDP growth in
2021, while adding 1% to core infation. In general, the pandemic could cost
the global economy $13.8 trillion in lost economic output by the end of 2024
(International Monetary Fund, 2022).
Very recently we have observed the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war,
after a full-scale military invasion by Russia. In response, the West imposed
substantial sanctions on Putin’s regime. While it is too early to fully assess the
consequences of these happenings, one could be sure that the impact of this
war on the global economy will be huge—and they will cause additional dis-
turbances in global supply chains, which were already strongly hit by the pan-
demic, and have little room for other shocks. The war in Ukraine will further
exacerbate global shortages not only of energy commodities. The prices of oil
and gas as well as wheat and corn are soaring dramatically. While this text
is being written (at the beginning of March 2022) gas prices have more than
quadrupled, oil costs 73% more, wheat is up more than 80%, and corn costs
38% more since the beginning of the year (Zschäpitz, 2022). Moreover, as
geopolitical tensions remain extremely high, other global risks could emerge.
And, still, there are common concerns about natural disasters caused by the
ongoing climate crisis.
According to the research6 of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM),
during the pandemic as much as 75% of companies faced supply-chain dis-
ruptions. 64% of respondents reported longer lead times in China; 68% of
them see longer lead times in Europe, and between 40%–54% from North
American countries, accordingly. This crisis has forced companies to take
ad hoc measures. 42% of companies changed their supplier due to the lock-
down-related impossibility of delivery. 56% of respondents report holding
more inventory than usual (Institute of Supply Management, 2020).
For years, one of the most widely adopted practices of SCM was just-in-
time, or more generally—lean management. While implementing lean prac-
tices in global chains often proved to be successful regarding effciency (lower
inventory, shorter lead times, better on-time-in-full deliveries, etc.), they are
also accused of exposing companies to the risk of chain disruption in a time
of uncertainty and unexpected events. According to the McKinsey report, a
disruption of the supply chain lasting one or two weeks could occur every
two years, while those lasting more than a month can occur about every 3.7
years. Severe disruptions such as the last pandemic can recur every fve years
(Lund et al., 2020).
The pandemic gave rise to the awareness that global chains’ design is
inherently fragile due to just-in-time logistics and lean inventories. Some crit-
ics have started questioning popular business practices such as just-in-time or
lean management, spread worldwide within supply chains, which have been
demystifed as neglecting vital safety margins (Financial Times, 2020, 2021;
O’Leary, 2020; Shih, 2020). SCM was rather focused on effciency but not nec-
essarily on resilience (cf. Lund et al., 2020).
Some authors have asked if we have witnessed the end of globalization
as we know it, and have predicted re-shoring or more regionalization of sup-
ply chains, or at least more redundancy and diversifcation of built-in supply
chains (Farrell & Newman, 2020; Gereff, 2020; O’Neil, 2020; Shih, 2020).
Recent problems have led to speculation that companies could shift to more
local production and sourcing. The closure of factories in Asia reveals the
risk of being dependent on one region. According to the Capgemini Research
Institute, the main goal of the surveyed companies is to reduce dependence on
Asian suppliers and develop regional ones. 66% of them anticipate signifcant
changes to their supply-chain strategy over the next three years (Capgemini
Research Institute, 2021). McKinsey estimates that the production of some
16%–26% of global trade ($2.9 trillion–$4.6 trillion) could move between coun-
tries in the medium term due to domestic production, nearshoring, or offshor-
ing to different locations (Lund et al., 2020).
These concerns are not only due to the pandemic but also due to many
other crises observed in recent years (Gereff, 2020). Recent uncertainties pro-
vide the opportunity to boost efforts to develop and adopt new approaches to
designing and governing supply chains. These crises create incentive to seize
the opportunity to make supply chains more resilient. Overall, it seems that
it is becoming clearer and clearer that the current approach to global supply
chains should be rethought and there is a need for more viable, robust, or
even “antifragile” (cf. Taleb, 2012) supply chains.
5.4 Global-Value-Chain (GVC) Approach

The model of vertical connections of enterprises discussed so far (SCM) adopts
a business perspective. The theoretical roots of GVC go back to the concept
of the “commodity chain,”,7 which was developed based on the world-systems
theory and refers to the macroeconomic perspective. The American sociolo-
gist, historian, and economist Immanuel Wallerstein, who also draws heavily
on the achievements of the French historian Braudel, is the creator of the
world-systems theory concerning the genesis (in a historical horizon dating
back to the 16th century), the development, and functioning of contemporary
capitalism and the prospects for changes in this currently dominant world-
system. Wallerstein’s theory emphasizes the long horizon of analyses as well
as the need to go beyond the national perspective. Basic research units are
wider areas (so-called world systems), constituting an economic whole based
on the fows of goods (Braudel, 2013 [1985]; Wallerstein, 1974, 2004).
The concept of a world system should have been treated not so much as a
system covering the entire globe, but rather as a system that creates a peculiar
universe for its participants, which may be relatively limited in geographi-
cal scope at a given moment in human history. Historically, there have been
many separate world systems in the world (e.g., Europe, the world of Islam,
India, China, and Japan). In the modern era, however, there was the territorial
expansion of the capitalist system, which nowadays has absorbed the entire
globe (Braudel, 2013 [1985]; Wallerstein, 2004).
The fundamental property of world systems is inequality. Economic fows,
as a result of an unequal exchange, affect the polarization of the system—the
emergence of central and peripheral areas. In the central areas, innovations
are created and highly processed goods are produced. Peripheral areas are a
source of natural resources, low-processed materials, and a reservoir of cheap
labor force. Their development is determined by relations with central areas.
It is also possible to distinguish areas of the semi-periphery that may medi-
ate between the center and the periphery. In the modern capitalistic world
system, most of the absorbed areas have become the periphery of this system
(Wallerstein, 2004). The system’s central areas were subject to long-range8
changes, including shifts in the position of the hegemon from the Netherlands,
through Great Britain, to the United States (Braudel, 2013 [1985]).
World systems are based on two pillars: Economic and political. The
economic pillar is related to the fows of goods, labor, and capital that
integrate a given system. Economic structures are intersected by political
structures—states (Braudel, 2013 [1985]; Wallerstein, 1974). “The national
economy is a political space modifed by the state” (Braudel, 2013 [1985],

p. 129). Through political action, states may seek the relative improvement
of their position in the world system (Braudel, 2013 [1985]); Wallerstein,
1974).
Historically, two kinds of markets could be distinguished. On the one hand,
there were “public markets” (or category-A markets) supervised by authorities
that were striving to maintain competition. On the other hand, there were “pri-
vate markets” (or category-B markets), free from this supervision. Category-A
markets consisted of daily local exchanges as well as long-distance trading if it
was regular, predictable, routine, and open to smaller players. It gathered pro-
ducers (farmers, craftsmen)—and customers. Private markets involved direct
purchases from a producer (e.g., linen) or a farmer (e.g., wheat, hemp, wool,
cattle, poultry), and were popular in England from the 15th century. The pur-
chases were often agreed in advance and made in advance, e.g., the purchase
of wheat before harvest (Braudel, 2013 [1985] pp. 28–29, 39, 65–75). Since that
time, we can observe the introduction of autonomous trade chains—quite
long, freely forming—against traditional market regulations. As the market
economy and then capitalism developed, B markets gained an advantage by
gradually replacing A markets9 (Braudel, 2013 [1985]).
In this way, the concept of commodity chains arose from the world-sys-
tems theory. The concept was frst coined as a “chain of merchandising” by
Wallerstein (1974). In subsequent Wallerstein publications, prepared together
with Hopkins (Hopkins & Wallerstein, 1977, 1986, 1994), a modifed term,
“commodity chain,” appears, which they defne as a network of work and
production processes, the result of which is a fnished commodity (Hopkins &
Wallerstein, 1986). Commodity chains contain combinations of central activi-
ties that allow for relatively high rates of return and peripheral activities that
generate relatively low profts. It can be observed, however, that the mix
of activities carried out in a given country may change over time. Hence, it
is advisable to defne the goals of the national development program as an
increase in the ratio of central processes to peripheral activities carried out in
a given country (Bair, 2014).
The Global Commodity Chain (GCC) is a concept related to the work
of Gereff and colleagues (Raikes et al., 2000). It arose out of the previ-
ously discussed literature on commodity chains. However, as it developed,
it moved away from its roots understood as the world-systems theory. As
Bair (2014) notes, in the 1990s, along with the intensifcation of globaliza-
tion,10 the interest in the commodity chain grew as one of the few concepts
offering a methodological approach to the analysis of complex international
production networks. However, the concept evolved in its way that was
separate from its parent theory. There was a redirection of the existing con-
cept explaining development differences at a macro level towards a norma-
tive concept and development policy tool at a mesoeconomic level. Thus,
the central research issue related to the question of how commodity chains
shape inequalities at a global world-system level has been reoriented to the
question: How can one support development at a level of subsystems of the
world system, namely a particular chain and its links (Bair, 2014)?
It is assumed (Drost, 2011; Raikes et al., 2000) that the origins of GCC as
a concept separate from commodity chains are related to the publication of
a monograph edited by Gereff and Korzeniewicz (1994). Most of the authors
of this monograph emphasized not the historical context and long cycles,
but rather the emergence of new forms of cooperation in the global produc-
tion system—including geographically dispersed but centrally coordinated
activities related to the delivery of goods to fnal buyers (Raikes et al., 2000).
Gereff (1995) ascribed the world-systems theory with problems grasping
the activity of large corporations in the context of specifc conditions of
local economies and their dynamics. He also pointed to the need of build-
ing a bridge to overcome the macro-micro gap in economic development
research.
As a part of the emerging GCC concept, three key dimensions of the chain
have been identifed: The input-output structure (the set of products and ser-
vices linked together in a sequence of value-adding activities), geographic
coverage (spatial dispersion or the concentration of enterprises of various
sizes and types involved in the chain) and the governance structure, i.e., the
control structure (authority and power relations that determine how fnan-
cial, material, and human resources are distributed within the chain) (Gereff,
1994). Soon, the above three dimensions were supplemented with a fourth
one—institutional (how do local, national and international conditions and
policies infuence the process of globalization in individual links of the chain?)
(Gereff, 1995).
The period of development of the GCC concept falls in the 90s of the last
century. After this decade, the creators of GCC, namely Gereff and his associ-
ates, deemed it necessary to modify their concept, signifcantly enough to be
emphasized by changing the name to the Global Value Chain (GVC). Together
with a group of researchers from various countries and disciplines (including
economics, sociology, political science, management, and geography) as well
as politicians and activists from non-governmental organizations, they cre-
ated a project called the Global Value Chains Initiative, under which several
workshops were conducted in the years 2000–2004. The aim was to develop
a theory that, on the one hand, would be grounded in the existing literature
and build consensus among researchers, and, on the other hand, could help
decision makers explain and predict control patterns in cross-border value
chains (Sturgeon, 2008).
The modifcation of the term from Global Commodity Chain to Global
Value Chain was associated with the replacement of the word “commod-
ity” with the word “value.” The motivation for this change was threefold.
Firstly, the word “commodity” is often associated with an undifferenti-
ated product such as crude oil and bulk agricultural products (Sturgeon,
2008). Secondly, the word “commodity” suggests a concentration on physi-
cal products, while the outcome of the chain may be an intangible asset or
service (Drost, 2011). Therefore, as the animators of the frst Global Value
Chains Initiative workshop Gereff et al. (2001, p. 3) wrote: “the value chain
concept was adopted over several widely used alternatives because it was
perceived as the most inclusive of the full range of possible chain activities
and end products.” Finally, the word “value” refers to Porter’s concept,11
with his idea of adding value through chain activities and fnancial results
as a measure of competitive advantage (cf. Sturgeon, 2008).
With its distant ancestor, namely the world-system theory, GVC shares an
interest in the relations of authority and economic power, and a critical atti-
tude to the existing economic structures that create inequalities (Gereff et al.,
2001; Fitter & Kaplinsky, 2001). GVC employs the mesoeconomic perspective
and focus on a practical approach, namely on strategies supporting develop-
ment, in particular on so-called upgrading, i.e., improving the position in the
chain (Drost, 2011; Sturgeon, 2008). Contemporarily, the concept of GVC has
become an important analytical approach within different strands of social
sciences including economics. It helps make sense of the increasingly orga-
nizationally and geographically partitioned system of production worldwide
(Dünhaupt et al., 2022).
5.5 What new insights Could Be Drawn for

SCM from the GVC Approach?
Despite different names, one could easily fnd that the object of interest,
namely the chain of interconnected frms engaged in fragmented stages of
business, which fnally produce fnished goods, is just the same in GVC as in
the case of SCM literature. However, the perspective is quite different. Thus,
what are the new insights drawn from the GVC approach, which could be
fruitful for SCM?
First of all, from the discussion above, it is clear that the concept of GVC
is quite eclectic, with a body of knowledge and possible insights that have
grown incrementally through its development. Let us start with the very
early stage of this development. There are four issues subject to inquiry in
the commodity chain literature: (i) How do states try to shape commodity
chains? (ii) what are the relationships between chains and the stratifcation of
the world system, and are they changing? (iii) which links in the chain does
the surplus come from and how is it distributed between them? (iv) what
relationships are formed between commodity chains and political organiza-
tions (Bair, 2014)?
The issue of coordination or governance in global chains has become a
particular area of interest within the new research stream of GCCs (Raikes et
al., 2000; Stamm, 2004; Sturgeon, 2008). The governance structure is defned
as “authority and power relations that determine how fnancial, material and
human resources are allocated and fow within the chain” (Gereff, 1994,
p. 97). Thus, the problem of governance in GCC was equated with relations
of authority and power and put a lot of emphasis on leading frms’ capability
of governing the functioning of chains. Gereff (1994) popularized a dichot-
omous classifcation of governance structures in GCCs: Producer-oriented
and buyer-oriented. This proposal—which is a change in comparison to the
focus on the state and macroeconomics (typical for the theory of commod-
ity chains) in favor of focusing on enterprises playing the leading role in the
chains—met with great interest from researchers and practitioners (Sturgeon,
2008).
Manufacturer-oriented chains are typical for capital-intensive products with
high investment in technology, such as cars, airplanes, computers, electrical
machinery and equipment, semiconductors, etc. In this type of chain, the lead-
ing role is played by large transnational corporations controlling the production
system with vertical connections backward and forwards. In the manufacturer-
oriented chains, the core competencies are production and R&D, and entry bar-
riers are based on economies of scale. These chains correspond to the model of
mass production—Fordism (Gereff, 1994, 1999a, 1999b).
Buyer-oriented chains are typical for labor-intensive products such as cloth-
ing, footwear, toys, consumer electronics, household appliances, furniture,
and interior furnishings. In this type of chain, the key role is played by large
retailers (e.g., Walmart, Sears), branded distribution channels (e.g., Tommy
Hilfger, Marks & Spencer, C&A), and producers of branded goods (e.g., Nike,
Reebok). In buyer-oriented chains, the key competencies are design and mar-
keting, and entry barriers are based on the economics of scope. These chains
correspond to the model of fexible specialization—post-Fordism (Gereff,
1994, 1999a, 1999b).
The issue of governance is further developed under GVC’ umbrella.
Some shifts are observed in the meaning of this term and proposed clas-
sifcation. Another dichotomous classifcation of relations in GVCs was pro-
posed by Humphrey and Schmitz (2000, 2002): (i) Quasi-hierarchical, and
(ii) network. Thus, one could fnd that, in this case, governance does not
only mean relations based on power. Sturgeon and Lee (2001) proposed a
three-stage classifcation: (i) The supplier of goods, (ii) the supplier trapped
in a relation (captive), and (iii) the solution provider (turnkey).
However, fnally, in GVC’ literature, currently, a fve-element classifcation
of governance structures dominates (Gereff et al., 2005; Sturgeon, 2008):
1) Markets—simple price-regulated market connections; low switching costs

for both partners; product specifcations are simple allowing easy fabrica-
tion by suppliers with minimal information from buyers; low specifcity
of assets; knowledge necessary for transactions easy to codify;
2) modular value chains—suppliers make products according to the buyers’
specifcations of varying complexity; a limited degree of asset specifcity;
modular value chains occur in a situation of the modular architecture of
the fnal product, which enables the reduction of component variability
and the application of uniform specifcations and standards; then, such a
modular “intermediate” can be exchanged with a limited level of invest-
ment in transaction-specifc assets and there is little need of monitoring
and control (thanks to the codifcation and even digitization of neces-
sary information fow); the switching cost remains relatively low for both
parties;
3) relational value chains—characterized by complex relationships between
sellers and buyers including tacit knowledge and a high level of invest-
ment in specifc assets; reputation-related or family and ethnic ties play
a major role; alternatively, interdependence can be governed by mecha-
nisms that impose costs on the party breaking the arrangements (e.g., a
credible commitment based on a so-called hostage exchange); switching
costs are high for both parties;
4) captive value chains—small suppliers are dependent on much larger
buyers, as a result, sellers experience unilaterally high switching costs,
becoming, in some way, “prisoners” of the chain; a situation somewhat
similar to modular chains (due to the possibility of codifcation of knowl-

edge related to transactions), with the difference, however, that the low
competences of suppliers require a signifcant scope of intervention in
their operations and control by leading companies, which results in a
lock-in relationship; tied suppliers are reliant on complementary processes
carried out by other links in the chain; opportunism is constrained by
dominance over suppliers and making an exit is not an attractive option
for them;
5) hierarchies—links within the same company, regulated by hierarchical
authority; they occur when product specifcations cannot be codifed, prod-
ucts are complex, transactions are strongly saturated with tacit knowledge
and, at the same time, there is no access to competent suppliers.
In addition to the governance issues, GVC focus strongly on the question

of value-adding and its distribution. This focus is emphasized by the term
“global value chain”; here lies an important difference in comparison to SCM.
“The value chain is an important construct for understanding the distribu-
tion of returns arising from design, production, marketing, coordination and
recycling” (Kaplinsky & Morris, 2002, p. 25). The incentive to participate in
the value chain is the possibility of gaining rent (supernormal proft). There
are four general kinds of rents: Endogenous to the frm (control over scarce
technologies, access to better skills of human resources, superior organiza-
tion, better marketing capabilities/brand names), endogenous to the chain
(relational rents due to relations with suppliers and buyers), exogenous to the
chain (resource rent—access to scarce natural resources), and fnally rents
provided by parties external to the chain (access to fnance on better terms,
access to high-quality infrastructure and policy rents) (Kaplinsky & Morris,
2002).
An important concern of the GVC approach is the matter of the distribu-
tion of value.12 Taking into account the distribution of value within the value
chain, one could easily raise the question of power relations and inequalities
within GVC. As Kaplinsky and Morris (2002, pp. 14–15) claim, “the debate is
polarized between two views—globalization is good for the poor or globaliza-
tion is harmful to the poor. Yet, this is a way too simplistic perspective, since
it is less a matter of globalization being intrinsically good or bad, but rather
how producers and countries insert themselves in the global economy.” By
highlighting the issue of the distribution of gains within a chain, asking for
rent, power asymmetries, and inequalities, the global-value-chain approach can
help in both understandings (a positive analysis) and identifying and crafting
appropriate policies (a normative analysis), which could be implemented by

producers (frms, regions, or countries) to increase their share in benefts from
participating in a global exchange (Kaplinsky & Morris, 2002).
That is where the “upgrading” term comes into play. The stake in this issue
is to insert producers into the GVC in a way, in which they enable a virtuous
cycle of sustained-gain growth instead of being trapped in a race to the bottom
(so-called immiserizing growth). Upgrading focuses on moving to higher-value
activities in GVC to increase gains from participating in global specialization
and a division of labor by: Being more effcient (process upgrading), moving
into better or more sophisticated products (product upgrading), acquiring new
functions to increase the skill content of more complex processes (functional
upgrading), and moving into more promising chains/sectors (chain or inter-
sectoral upgrading) (Gereff & Fernandez-Stark, 2011).
The prerequisites for the emergence of GVCs are globalization and the
fragmentation of production. The progress of globalization is conditioned by
a decline in barriers to the costs of moving goods, moving ideas, and mov-
ing people (Baldwin, 2019). However, while these fows of goods, ideas, and
people integrate an economic system called the global value chain, it is still
intersected by political structures—states, which create an institutional con-
text for links in the chain. According to Gereff and Fernandez-Stark (2011,
p. 11), “institutions include tax and labor regulation, subsidies, education and
an innovation policy that can promote or hinder industry growth and devel-
opment.” From this perspective, the role of institutions in supporting or block-
ing upgrading the position of producers (frms, regions, or countries) in GVCs
is hard to overestimate.
It seems that these issues outlined above could also be interesting
for researchers representing the SCM approach, if they treat the need of
rethinking the supply chains seriously, particularly in a global or, at least,
international context.
5.6 implications
5.6.1 Framework
As one can see, the GVC approach offers some potentially fruitful insight for
supply-chain management. The pandemic, as well as geopolitical tensions,
and expected further disruptions in global supply chains call for the devel-
opment and adaptation of new, more resilient approaches to designing and
managing them. It seems that the useful, common platform for comparing
and cross-fertilizing both GVC and SCM could be system thinking. We would
like to propose a framework, which is a compilation of propositions of Kornai
(1971) and Bossel (2007), based on system thinking—Figure 5.1. The essence
of the concept of the system is that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts (Bertalanffy, 1972). In other words, a system is a set of elements, inter-
connected by relations that form a whole with features qualitatively different
from the sum of elements (Pszczołowski, 1978). Therefore, we cannot fully
understand the behavior of a system solely by analyzing its components. It can
be said that the system is a product of the interaction of elements that make
up a given system. The interactions form the structure of the system, and the
structure of the system defnes its behavior (Meadows, 2008).
According to Kornai (1971), the economy as a whole, as well as any economic
system within it, consists of two components: A real sphere and a control sphere.
This distinction could be used as a lens, which we will use to analyze features of
any global-value (-supply) chain. When depicting the chain as a system, we will
Figure 5.1 Simplifed Diagram of a Value (Supply) Chain as an economic System.

Source: Own based on concepts of Kornai (1971, p. 41) and Bossel (2007, p. 58).
Note: Thick arrows indicate product/service fows, thin dashed arrows indicate information fows;
CS denotes causal systems, RS denotes response systems and NS denotes normative systems.
use the hierarchical structure of systems (i.e., systems within systems), which are
built from subsystems, which, in turn, are divided into subsystems, etc. (Simon,
1962). Accordingly, we will talk about level S considering the whole value chain,
level S-1, taking into account its links, and level S-2—considering the internal
structure of these links. Figure 5.1 depicts the global-value (-supply) chain as a
systemic whole (a system-level or S-level), which covers a set (in our case only
three for simplicity) of frms or links in the chain (a subsystem or S-1 level). What
creates the chain as a system is an interconnectedness between the links. Thus,
one could easily fnd two kinds of connections, which connect the links: Product
(or service) fows (as indicated by thick arrows), and information fows (as indi-
cated by thin dashed arrows). In this framework both the chain and its links are
treated as economic systems, thus they both could be divided into a real and a
control sphere, respectively.
According to the description of the economic system proposed by Kornai,
the processes taking place in it can be divided into two categories: The real
sphere (R) and the control sphere (C). The real sphere includes the mate-
rial processes taking place in the economic system, such as production and
delivery (including products and services), sale, and consumption. The control
sphere includes the thought processes occurring in the economic system, such
as perception, transmission, and the processing of information, preparation,
and decision making, which govern the material processes in the real sphere
(Kornai, 1971).
As Figure 5.1 depicts each of the subsystems, the S-1 level (links of the
chain) consists of successive subsystems at an S-2 level, namely: The units of
the real sphere responsible for the delivery of products or services and the
units of the control sphere, which are both connected by information fows
occurring within the S-1 subsystems. Following Bossel’s (2007) nomenclature,
I will call these units of the real sphere causal systems (CS), while the units of
the control sphere will further be divided into two kinds of units and I will
call them response systems (RS) and normative systems (NS).
The causal system (which could also be called a physical system) is, accord-
ing to Bossel (2007, p. 58), “composed of those processes representing the
material functioning of the system.” In the causal system, instructions originat-
ing from the response system are translated into internal processes or actions
infuencing the environment. “The response system is an information process-
ing system combining the processes of situation perception and classifcation,
state analysis, problem-solving, policy synthesis, the assessment of outcomes
of alternatives and the decision.” The normative system will be discussed
in 5.6.3.
5.6.2 Asymmetries in Power and Value Distribution

Here, it is important to emphasize the crucial difference between a traditional,
economic (neoclassical) vision of interfrm relations and a nontraditional one
for the chain approach, which, in this case, is common for both regarded
approaches, namely: SCM and GVC. All these visions could be described in
the framework from Figure 5.1. In the case of the economic vision, all the
exchange relations between suppliers and buyers could be framed on the
market model with its interplay of demand and supply resulting from the
market-clearing price. The material object of the interchange (thick arrows) is,
in the neoclassical model, the undifferentiated commodity, while all the infor-
mation (thin dashed arrows between links of the chain) needed to govern this
mechanism of exchange is embodied in the market price (cf. Figure 5.1 and
Table 5.1). Thus, the interfrm relations are separated in Macneil’s (1985) mean-
ing, namely the identity of trading partners is unimportant.
The concept of interfrm relations, which form “the chain,” includes the
idea of strong, non-separated (relational13) linkages between chain partici-
pants and the activities they perform, so it is important that they create a
new whole with features distinct not only from individual companies but also
from neoclassical markets. We call such a whole “the chain.” Thus, the role of
transfer of information (thin dashed arrows) is much broader and much more
emphasized in chain approaches (cf. Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1). In the case
of SCM, the basic information scope (apart from price information) covers
operational information such as inventory levels, production specifcations,
plans, schedules, etc. What is new, from the GVC perspective, are informa-
tional relations in the form of commands or unequal power relations. Such a
way of governance arises from asymmetries between exchange parties. Such
asymmetries in knowledge or just in economic power create more privileged
partners in the chain and allow them to experience some kind of authority
(compare the discussion on the governance structure in section 5.5) over other
links in the chain, even if they are nominally independent frms—Table 5.1.
According to Galbraith, “the appeal of the competitive model was its solu-
tion to the problem of power” (2014 [1952], p 24). However, in global chains,
some links, and some fragmented production stages tend to pass “from the
hands of the many to the few” (Galbraith, 2014 [1952], p. 33). Braudel (2013
[1985]) claims that as the market economy and capitalism developed, the rel-
atively competitive “public markets” were gradually supplanted by “private
markets” (a.k.a. “commodity chains”) with the distinctive feature of market
power. Also, Gereff et al. (2005) and Sturgeon (2008) explain that competitive
table 5.1 Comparison of neoclassical, SCM, and GVC Approaches to

interorganizational Relationships.
Economics Supply Chain
(neoclassical) Management Global Value Chain
Category approach approach approach
Goods Undifferentiated Differentiated Differentiated products
commodity products and and services
What is transferred among partners
services
Information Governance by Governance by Governance by price
price information price information information
of the exchange?
– Governance by Governance by
operational operational information
information (inventory levels,
(inventory levels, production specs and
production plans, etc.)
specs and
plans, etc.)
– – Governance by
commands due to
asymmetries in power,
authority, and knowledge
Normative One orientor One orientor Many different basic
orientors (optimization on (optimization on orientors possible,
each frm-level) a chain level) probable differences
between orientors and
their relative wage
among partners
The role of the “Night “Night “Night watchman,” tariffs,
state/nation watchman,” watchman,” and other trade barriers
tariffs, and other tariffs, and other
trade barriers trade barriers
– – Institutional differences
between states and an
active policy of upgrading
relations (arms-length market linkages) with low switching costs for both part-
ners are only one of many possibilities of governance structures between
links in GVC.
Another possibility is, for example, captive relations with small partners expe-
riencing unilaterally high switching costs and, thus, becoming, in some way,
“prisoners” of power-based relations. Such asymmetries in power easily lead to

inequalities in the distribution of gain from cooperation among GVC members
(consider the examples presented in n. 12, the iPhone case in particular). If the
frm, region, or country is forced to enter the value chain in an unequal position,
there is a risk of being trapped in immiserizing growth—“the situation where
there is increasing economic activity (more output and more employment) but
falling economic returns” (Kaplinsky & Morris, 2002, p. 21).
Consider the case of the frm from an export processing zone in the Dominican
Republic described by Kaplinsky and Morris (2002, p. 19). The frm saw its
chance in entering the international value chain of jeans. By investing $150,000
in equipment, the frm was able to sign a contract for sewing materials imported
from and cut in the US, based on a design from the US—all under the brand of a
multinational company. The initial (January 1990) unit price was $2.18, declining
to $2.05 after ten months and further to $1.87 before the end of 1990. Moreover,
after one year of cooperation, the contract was terminated and the multinational
frm started to source from Honduras.
Considering expectations of decoupling and nearshoring of supply chains
due to the COVID-19 experience, one could expect that some frms, regions,
or countries would want to take advantage of this new deal and will try to
escape from captive relations in value chains due to these shifts. This trend
will be reinforced by the increasing role and legitimacy of nation-states, which
will be discussed below. Moreover, if the Russian invasion of the Ukraine
starts a kind of “New Cold War,” such shifts could be even more common
worldwide.
5.6.3 Orientors as Normative References

Despite the differences in informational relations among links in the chain, GVC
also offer some additional insight. Both neoclassical economics and the SCM
approach almost deny the issue of normative systems, or they both marginalize
this issue by ad hoc assumptions regarding normative issues. According to Bossel
(2007), the response system in performing its tasks has to refer back to the nor-
mative system (Figure 5.1). The normative system provides “normative references
needed by the response system” (p. 58). A set of such references or criteria that
are relevant for the evaluation of the system are called orientors. “Orientors are
aspects, terms, or dimensions… that designate important criteria or qualities of
system survival and development” (Bossel, 2007, p. 158).
Both economics and the SCM approach treat such normative references as
granted. They both assume that there is only one normative orientor steering
the economic activity—namely optimization. The difference between these

two approaches is that in neoclassical economics the orientor is optimization,
as defned on an individual frm level, while in the SCM—as defned on the
whole chain level (Table 5.1). One could note that normative systems are rela-
tively autonomous (in the sense that they are independent of other links in
the chain). On the other hand, normative systems are dependent14 on an insti-
tutional context in which links of the chain operate. This institutional context
is mainly determined locally (nation-state).
The global-value-chain approach, by emphasizing the role of the institu-
tional environment, is much more open to normative issues. The crucial issue
here is that institutions fundamentally change the price15 an economic actor
pays due to his/her decisions, and this is what determines their infuence on
decision making (North, 2011 [1990]). In other words, institutions could affect
the role of normative references used by the response system.
As mentioned above, in economics, as well as in many concepts of manage-
ment (e.g., SCM), what is taken for granted is that economic actors optimize
(e.g., maximize profts). In system thinking it is assumed that the overall reason
for the existence of the system and, therefore, for all its behavior is viability/
sustainability (Beer, 1995; Bossel, 2007). Such a “supreme orientor” is very gen-
eral, it would be applicable in any conditions, however, it is much too general
to be relevant for system survival and development. Thus, from the “supreme
orientor” some “basic orientors” could be drawn, such as effciency (e.g., proft
maximization) or security, etc. (Bossel, 2007; cf. Table 5.1). The complex list of
basic orientors is presented in Table 5.2.
The basic orientors match relevant environmental properties (Table 5.2).
According to Bossel (2007), the environment of the system has six fundamental
table 5.2 Supreme and Basic orientors of the System and Matching environmental
Properties.
Supreme orientors Relevant environmental
of the system Basic orientors of the system properties accordingly
Viability/ Existence Normal state
Sustainability Effectiveness and effciency Resource scarcity
Freedom of action Diversity and variety
Security Variability
Adaptability Change
Coexistence Other actors
(Cooperation or competition)
Source: Own based on Bossel (2007, pp. 182–187).
properties: A normal state (which can vary in a certain range), resource scar-
city, diversity and variety, variability (fuctuations beyond the normal state
range), change, and other actors. To be viable and exist sustainably, systems
have to match their environment. Therefore, by imposing certain constraints
on the system, the environment directs its behavior.
The system has to be able to exist (existence) in a normal range of the
environmental state. The fact that resources are not available will, in an
infnitive-amounts system, need to be effective in securing scarce resources
and be effcient in using them. Due to the diversity and variety of the
environment, the system needs to be able to cope selectively and appropri-
ately (freedom of action) with challenges produced in this way. Occasional
fuctuations of the environmental state could be detrimental to the further
survival of the system. Thus, it must be able to protect itself from such
detrimental effects, namely, to be secure, e.g., through redundancy built
in the system. Apart from a relatively small variation inside the range of
the normal state and occasional fuctuations beyond this range, the envi-
ronment can shift to a permanently different new normal state. This calls
for adaptability, which enables one to cope with such permanent changes,
namely, to learn, adapt, and self-organize. The system has to deal with
the existence of other actors and, therefore, it needs to coexist with them.
Such coexistence can encapsulate the form of cooperation and competition
(Bossel, 2007)—cf. Table 5.2.
Normative constraints, namely orientors, refect the basic interest of the sys-
tems and, therefore, shape behavior of it decisively (Bossel, 2007). The choice
between the pursuit of any basic orientor, like increasing effciency, or other
normative values, such as security, can be expressed as a function with a nega-
tive slope (Figure 5.2). In other words, there is a trade-off between relative
roles, which orientors play in decision making. For example, considering secu-
rity as the orientor in one’s actions has its relative “price” as measured by the
effciency needed to give up for the increase of security. If such a price is low
(cf. curve A in Figure 5.2), security will play a signifcant role in the decision
making, however, if it is high (cf. curve B in Figure 5.2), its infuence on behav-
ior will be much smaller as compared to the role of effciency. In an extreme
case, when the only orientor taken into account is effciency (which means that
function, which expresses the choice between orientors, is identical with the
“X” axis—cf. curve C in Figure 5.2)—the cost of considering other orientors
(e.g., security) will be infnite. This way of reasoning could be an explanation
for why “lean” supply chains focused hard on optimization faced substantial
problems due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Y: other orientor
e.g. security
A
C
X: efficiency
Figure 5.2 Relationship between effciency and other orientors, e.g., Security.
Source: Own.
5.6.4 The Role of Nation-States

If we would like to rethink how supply chains should be designed and orga-
nized, we should identify the root cause of problems we would like to over-
come. According to GVC, an important context for how the chain operates
is created by institutions. A prominent representative of new institutional
economics claims “institutions fundamentally change the price an individual
pays” (North, 2011 [1990], p. 22). This is why the institutional context is crucial
for the basic orientor set taken into account. One could fnd that the insti-
tutional environment is strongly affected by nations (informal institutions)
and by states (formal institutions). This could create substantial differences
between a set of orientors between partners cooperating in global chains.
Thus, additional insight arising from the GVC approach, which could be
novel and fruitful for SCM, is emphasizing the role of nation-states (Table 5.1).
This is particularly important due to the experience of the pandemic when
COVID-19 brought back the nation-state into the game. “The nation-state
seems to be experiencing a striking renaissance. Borders are back…. Virtually
overnight, national capitals have effectively reclaimed sovereignty from the
European Union…. They are practically ruling by decree in a war-style fash-
ion…. The coronavirus outbreak seems to be reversing the course of his-
tory. Gone is globalization” (Zielonka, 2020). After decades of dominance of
neoliberalism and the expansion of the private sector at the expense of the
public sector, this last one is being called back (Arak, 2020, 2021; Zielonka,
2020).
Most governments decided to put the economy into hibernation to protect
people. The set of norms and rules applied to production, distribution, and
consumption, despite how some local differences were quite similar between
countries and could be named “pandenomics,” in other words, pandemic-time
economy (Arak, 2020, 2021). “The coronavirus pandemic has vanished… the
distance between global dynamics and their consequences for individuals.
Against a lack of a world government… nation-states re-emerge… between
the global and individual levels as the main guarantor of people’s health and
the entity coordinating crisis management” (Zielonka, 2020).
This new, extended role of the nation-state could be continued, as one
could expect, due to the aggression of Russia in Ukraine and its consequences.
The new challenges have arisen in the face of threats against military secu-
rity, energetic security, and food security. The war hit the global economy
at a diffcult time when supply-chain shortages became apparent due to the
pandemic. Thus, the war and its consequences could be perceived as the
Black Swan that shatters all forecasts. Europe gets 40% of its gas from Russia.
One could imagine further sanctions in the form of imposing embargoes
on Russian gas and oil, which could, furthermore, drive up already-existing
extreme high prices (Zschäpitz, 2022).
These would be political decisions, which would impose huge responsi-
bility on nation-states. It seems to be clear that instead of going back to the
new normal after COVID-19 and withdrawal, the extended activity of the
state from the economy, we stand on the threshold of an era of even bigger
commitment of the nation-state. After “pandenomics,” one can predict that
nation-states would even go one step further towards something close to a
war economy. One could expect that such engagement will impact the norma-
tive systems of frms, which are links in global value chains and, therefore, on
the design, conduct, and performance of whole chains (cf. Figure 5.1). Apart
from such institutional changes, states could get involved directly in active
attempts in redesigning supply chains in areas crucial for national security,
e.g., by investments in a critical capacity. According to Ralf Fücks from the
think tank Zentrum Liberale Moderne, we must rethink globalization to not
become dependent on China in key sectors such as medical technology or the
5G network. In the same vein, Maximilian Terhalle from the London School
of Economics claims that when we talk about gas, oil, and digital technology,
we can no longer see them only as elements of cooperation, but also as a
leverage of infuence, and if we fail to have such leverage, then as a weak-

point (Geiger, 2022).
Let us consider the example of EU counteraction plans about the recent
global crisis in the semiconductors industry. Currently, 80% of semiconduc-
tors are sourced from Asia, mainly Taiwan, followed by South Korea, Japan,
and China. Semiconductors are strategically important in the economy and
are called the lubricants of the fourth industrial revolution. This is why this
product is the subject of a geostrategic race. The EU has 10% of the global
semiconductors sector and plans to increase its share to 20% in 2030 (which
means a quadrupling of actual production, as the market itself will redouble:
From 500 billion to 1 trillion euros). Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for
the Internal Market announced the plan to allocate 45–50 billion euros for the
production of semiconductors of the most advanced technology (those smaller
than two nanometers and fve to seven nanometers). About 12 billion euros
would go towards R&D (two to three years), while another 30 billion euros
would be allocated for building-production capacity (another four years). On
the other hand, the US passed the Chips Fair America Act last year, which
allocates similar funds (the equivalent of 52 billion euros) to building semicon-
ductor capacity. The US has a 10 % share in semiconductors, while it plans to
increase this share to 30% by the end of the decade (Słojewska, 2022).
Let us sum up the implications we can draw from the new insights from
the GVC approach. Firstly, we should change the way we perceive the nature
of relations between links in supply chains and global supply chains in par-
ticular. In thinking about supply chains, we should unleash ourselves from the
oversimplistic and somehow naïve neoliberal view that an economic contract
is always an expression of economic freedom and, as such, is a guarantor of
competitiveness and economic welfare. And, that it is only a question of eff-
ciency, apart from issues of power, inequality, and ethics. Economic exchange
can indeed be the trigger of a self-feeding virtuous circle of increasing gains
for participating parties—both on a local as well as global scale (this argument
is in line with neoclassical economics). It is also true that intensive cooperation
between participating parties and, therefore, the open sharing of operational
information can be an important factor in increasing effciency substantially
within the whole chain (this argument is in line with the SCM approach).
However, we should not be blind to the fact that cooperation in the chain
does not eradicate all competition between links of the chain (cf. the idea
of co-opetition16 in Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 1998). We should be able to
analyze, design, and improve supply chains seriously taking into account the
huge asymmetries of power, privileged and unprivileged parties, differences
in added value and its distribution within chains, the abuse of authority over
the chain, inequalities, and injustices. And we should also take into account
that some parties of the chain will actively attempt to improve their position
in the chain and could be supported by states in these attempts.
Secondly, we should, therefore, abandon the view of global supply chains
as purely business initiatives. It seems to be clear that contrary to this neolib-
eral view, the SCM approach should gain some fresh insight from the perspec-
tive of the GVC lens. In this lens, it is indispensable to take nation-states into
account. According to the GVC approach and its predecessors (GCC, commod-
ity chains, the world-system theory), states try to shape supply chains. The
policy of active support of upgrading could be an important part of national-
development programs focused on increasing the ratio of high-value-added
processes against low-value-added processes typical to peripheral countries.
Recently, due to COVID-19 and the perspective of the “New Cold War,” one can
expect an even more expanding policy of nation-states (as well as their alli-
ances like the EU) towards supporting and redesigning global supply chains.
However, nowadays it could be driven not mainly by the upgrading principle
(focused on higher value added) but also by the security principle (focused on
leveraging chains by possessing infuence in the most critical links).
This brings us to the third implication, the normative-issues matter. The
main problem with the business strand of literature underlying the chain
concept and with SCM literature, in particular, is that it is only focused
on the causal system and the response system and neglects the normative
system. This strand implicitly takes it as given that the only normative rule
is the effciency principle. This issue was clearly exposed during the pan-
demic by the failure of practices such as just-in-time and lean management.
As previously explained, the normative system provides references for the
response system, which, on the other hand, directly steers the behavior of
the causal system. Apart from the effciency orientor, such a reference set
can cover many other basic orientors, such as security, adaptability, freedom
of action, etc.
The relative relevance of basic orientors of the system could be modifed
by both external and internal changes. By external changes, I mean infuence
on the normative system by shifts in the system’s institutional environment.
This is the way nation-states could infuence the design, conduct, and perfor-
mance of value chains, apart from direct investments and other direct support.
By internal changes, I mean modifcations of the normative system by itself in
the process of learning. This is the way frms could infuence the design, con-
duct, and performance of value chains in which they participate. The attempts
to build up critical inventory, diversify sourcing, or even shift towards decou-

pling and nearshoring are just observable examples of the increase of the
relative role of such orientors as security, adaptability, and freedom of action.
5.7 Concluding Remarks

COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, as well as many possible but uncertain yet,
future problems will challenge the design, conduct, and performance of
global supply chains. Supply-chain management (SCM) is a business-based
approach to modeling, designing, and coordinating supply chains (in such
numbers, the global ones) rooted in logistics and operational management.
This approach and practices such as just-in-time and lean management in par-
ticular, which are strongly oriented towards effciency and optimization within
the whole chain, could be reasonably criticized as disregarding other possible
basic orientors of the system. Those other orientors such as security turn out
to be crucial in times of uncertainty. The refreshed approach to global sup-
ply chains is needed. Global value chain (GVC) approach is presented and
discussed here. This approach gives rise to some issues, which are neglected
or, at least, underestimated by supply-chain management. Therefore, GVC
could be insightful in attempts to rethink the design, conduct, and perfor-
mance of global supply chains aimed at being more resilient, robust, or even
“antifragile.”
There are threefold implications drawn from these insights, which seem to
be the most important. Firstly, global value chains are systems, which are built
on inherent duality—namely, creating value is fundamentally a cooperative
process, while capturing and distributing value within the chain is a competi-
tive process. Thus, the design and management of the global supply chain
could not merely be treated as a coordination issue focused solely on business
effciency, but it is necessary to consider issues of economic power, asymme-
tries, inequalities, and injustices within the chain. Secondly, we can go astray
by treating global supply chains as purely business initiatives in a stateless
vacuum. In such a way we could overlook or underestimate the important
sources of infuence on the chain. This risk has grown bigger recently and
will continue to in the future, as global systemic uncertainty has been grow-
ing and the role of nation-states in the economy is getting bigger. Thirdly,
normative issues matter in governing global chains. Treating frms and whole
chains merely as mechanical structures (machines) for earning profts proves
to be myopic and was recently painfully tested by COVID-19 and the war in
Ukraine. This calls for a reorientation of normative systems of frms, which

could be driven by both the learning process on a business units’ level as well
as by the institutional context created at a nation-state level (or on a level of
state alliances such as the EU).
Thus, the global-value-chain approach could shed some new light on inter-
organizational cooperation on a global scale and, therefore, GVC could enrich
the business-oriented SCM approach. GVC could help rethink the weak-
nesses of global supply chains exposed by the recent crisis and draw further
developments.
This study is conducted in a very general way and lacks any solid empiri-
cal research. One could fnd it as a limitation. However, it seems that this
limitation could be justifed due to the very preliminary stage of the study.
While the global economy is still impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, it
has just, very recently, started to experience another and possibly even harder
kind of disturbance (the war in Europe). Thus, we urgently need to discuss
how to redesign global supply chains in this time of uncertainty. The possible
cross-fertilization of both global-value chain and supply-chain management
seems to be a valuable part of the future development of such a discussion.
Future research could follow two paths. The frst one could be a deeper,
more detailed study on each of the three implications mentioned previously
(namely (i) the issue of power asymmetries and unequal distribution of value
added, (ii) the relative role of basic orientors, (iii) the role of nation-states in
structuring of the normative system). The second path could be collecting
empirical material regarding these three issues, respectively.
notes
1. Or the “New Globalization” as he named it. Since the ICT revolution lowered the
costs of moving ideas, it facilitates the separation of so far integrated production
processes or, in other words, the fragmentation of factories. This is why this
trend is called “second unbundling” (Baldwin, 2019).
2. As production split around the world, value chains have grown in length and
complexity in recent decades. The value of intermediate goods traded world-
wide has tripled since 2000 to about $10 trillion per year (Lund et al., 2020).
3. Nevertheless, with a practical orientation as well.
4. Sub-optimization means that decisions or actions in a part of the system are
made at the expense of the whole (Supply Chain . . ., 2013, p. 184).
5. However, thanks to the integration of the links in the supply chain, it is also pos-
sible to achieve other benefts, beyond cost reduction (Camps, 2004). An illus-
tration of this trend is the defnition of the supply chain proposed by Lazzarini
et al. (2001, p. 7)—”a set of sequential, vertically organized transactions repre-

senting successive stages of value creation”. Gradually, the concept of the supply
chain breaks away from its logistics and operational roots and shifts towards
a more strategic orientation (cf. Sweeney et al., 2018)—focusing on building a
competitive advantage, created within the entire chain. Thus, the concept of
Supply Chain Management is more similar to Porter’s ideas of the value chain
and the value system, introduced in his book “Competitive Advantage” from
1985. Porter (1998 [1985], p. 33) emphasizes that a competitive advantage can-
not be fully understood “by looking at a frm as a whole. It stems from many
discrete activities a frm performs in designing, producing, marketing, delivering
and supporting its product”. Thus, the set of these activities creates the “chain”.
The essence of the company’s competitive advantage is the condition that the
value for the customer generated by a set of related activities exceeds the sum of
the costs resulting from conducting these processes. The difference of these two
amounts is the margin, which indicates the size of the advantage. The essence
of the value chain as a strategic management tool is to analyze activities related
to a given business in terms of their relative cost position and the role they can
play in building unique benefts for the client—so-called differentiation (Porter,
1998 [1985]). One could notice that Porter is fully aware that the value chain
of a given company is integrated into a wider stream of processes, which he
referred to as the value system—“gaining and maintaining a competitive advan-
tage depends on understanding not only the value chain enterprise, but also its
adjustment to the entire value system” (Porter, 1998 [1985], p. 34).
6. The survey was conducted with more than 770 respondents.
7. Initially Wallerstein (1974) also used the term “chain of merchandising”.
8. The long-term refected the perspective of the long Kondratieff cycles (Hopkins
& Wallerstein, 1994; Raikes et al., 2000; Wallerstein, 2004).
9. According to the McKinsey Global Institute (Lund et al., 2020, p. 21) more than
95 percent of global trade fows through “tightly choreographed value chains”.
10. Compared to Baldwin’s (2019) notion of “New Globalization” discussed above.
11. Porter’s value chain is already mentioned in endnote 5. The “value” in the term
value chain is understood as the amount that buyers are willing to pay for a
product/service provided to them by a given supplier. The processes carried out
by the company not only add value to the customer, but also generate costs. In
other words, it means that an increase in value understood in this way proves
a relative improvement in a company’s competitiveness. This competitiveness
is, therefore, a result of the value for the customer added by the individual pro-
cesses carried out by the company. (Porter, 1998 [1985]).
12. For illustration let us consider three examples of value distribution from both—
low-tech and high-tech sectors. In the case of coffee, the $4.40/lb. retail price
in 1994 breaks down as follows: 10%/21% for the farmer (depending on the dry
or wet process), 20%/9% for the bean processing factory (depending on the
dry or wet process), 11% for export, freight and insurance, 8% for the importer,
29% for the fnal processing factory, and 22% for the retailer (Fitter & Kaplinsky,
2001, p 73). In the case of canned peach, 42.9% stay inside South Africa (12.4%
for peaches, 11.6% for cans, 4.2% for sugar, 14.7 for canning), while 57.1% goes
outside South Africa (24.2% for shipping, duties, insurance, landing charges, 6.3%
for the importer, and 26.7 for the supermarket) (Kaplinsky, 2000, p. 24). The
$499 retail price of Apple’s iPhone sold in US stores in 2010 breaks down as
follows: $179 (35.9%) for the wholesale value of the iPhone shipped to the US
and $320 (64.1%) for the bottom line, which goes to the US for R&D, design,
engineering, fnancing, advertising, logistics etc. and Apple’s profts (58.5%). The
$179 wholesale value of the iPhone breaks down as follows: $6.50 (3.6% of the
wholesale value or 1.3% of the retail price) for the manufacturing costs in China,
$10.75 (6% or 2.2%, respectively) for inputs imported to China from the US, and
161.71 (90.3% or 32.4%, respectively) for inputs imported from other countries
(Kraemer, Linden & Dedricket al., 2011; Landefeld, 2014).
13. In Macneil’s (1985) meaning.
14. This dependence is not depicted in Figure 5.1 because this fgure does not show
the environment, due to simplicity.
15. And, therefore, the institutional context could infuence the relative importance
of criteria used in decision-making.
16. Something between cooperation and competition.
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Chapter 6
intelligent Solutions in the

Supply Chains: Challenges
for 3PL Providers
Helga Pavlić Skender, Elizabeta Ribarić,
and Petra Adelajda Zaninović
University of Rijeka, Croatia
Contents
6.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................140
6.2 Defnition and Characteristics of the Supply Chains and
the 3PL Providers...................................................................................141
Supply Chain..........................................................................................141
3PL Providers .........................................................................................142
6.3 Case-Study Analysis of 3PL Provider’s Implementation of
Autonomous Vehicles ............................................................................143
Main Features of an Autonomous Vehicle............................................143
Implementation of Autonomous Vehicles ............................................145
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding.............................................147
Nippon Express .....................................................................................149
DB Schenker ..........................................................................................150
6.4 Benefts and Potential Challenges of Implementation of
Autonomous Vehicles ............................................................................150
6.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................151
References.......................................................................................................153
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-8 139

6.1 introduction
In the last two decades, third-party logistics providers (hereinafter: 3PL) rep-
resent one of the most important factors in supply chains and international
trade. 3PL providers play an important role in creating a competitive advan-
tage for retailers and manufacturers. 3PL functions are transportation, ware-
housing, inventory management, order fulfllment, and information systems
within which 3PLs have various activities (Sink et al., 1996 in Pavlić et al.,
2016). These functions and activities are crucial for the smooth functioning
of supply-chain networks. However, technological advancements and market
uncertainties force 3PL providers and supply chains to increase their fexibility
and effciency.
The next step in technological advancement for 3PL providers, as well
as supply chains, could be the use of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous
vehicles are already being used in logistics, but their use is limited to pri-
vate, controlled locations such as warehouses, ports, manufacturing plants,
etc. The next stage that most 3PL providers anticipate is the deployment of
autonomous vehicles in public places, such as highways. Implementation of
autonomous vehicles on public roads could solve some challenges such as
shortage of skilled drivers, cost of human labor, reduction (elimination) of
human error, the risk to human life, congestion relief, reduced number of
road accidents, and the ineffciency of global supply chains in unforeseen
situations (e.g., COVID -19 situation). According to European Commission
(2021), there are more than 40,000 deaths on the roads in the EU; and more
than 90% of all accidents are caused by human error. The purpose of autono-
mous vehicles is to protect human life, and reduce traffc accidents, energy
consumption, and consequently pollution and congestion while increasing
traffc accessibility (Bagloee et al., 2016).
The aim of this paper is to investigate the implementation of autonomous
vehicles in global supply chains using selected global 3PL leaders and to
determine the main benefts of implementing autonomous vehicles in supply
chains. The research question that emerges is: What are the key phases of
autonomous-vehicle implementation that leading 3PL providers are dealing
with? Our research is based on desk research and case-study analysis of the
world’s leading 3PL providers following the Armstrong and Associates’ Top 50
Global 3PLs.
The paper consists of fve parts. The introduction gives an insight into the
topic, the research question, and the aim of the research. In the second part,
a detailed explanation of the supply chain and 3PL providers, is given. In
Intelligent Solutions in the Supply Chains: Challenges ◾ 141
the third part, the phases of autonomous-vehicle deployment are explained,

and innovative technologies from selected 3PL providers are analyzed. In the
fourth part, advantages and possible concerns regarding the implementation
of autonomous vehicles on public roads are given. The ffth part of this paper
is a conclusion.
6.2 Defnition and Characteristics of the

Supply Chains and the 3PL Providers
The supply chain is a complex system with many parties within it, i.e., organi-
zations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in the delivery
of a product or service to a fnal consumer. 3PL providers play an important
role in the effcient functioning of supply chains. The following part provides
an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding supply chains and
3PL providers.
Supply Chain
The frst literature explanation of the supply chain dates back to 1982 and is
attributed to authors Oliver and Webber (Carter et al., 2015; Ellram & Cooper,
2014; Gibson et al., 2005). The supply chain is a set of processes associ-
ated with the fow of goods, information, and money between companies.
It includes processes from raw-material supply to production, distribution,
consumption, and recycling. Authors Min et al. (2019) defne a supply chain as
the long-term coordination of business functions within the company, but also
between them, to achieve better results. The supply chain can be considered
as a network (because it consists of lines and nodes), a fexible but complex
system (because it involves a large number of participants), and an individual
system (because it is unique to each product) (Carter et al., 2015). A supply
chain can be defned as a system that provides the fow of materials, semifn-
ished products, and fnished products, from the manufacturer to the customer
(Prasad et al., 2014).
Supply-chain management can be described as a tool to optimize the
supply chain through integrated management (Sanchez-Flores et al., 2020).
Supply-chain management includes several functions such as raw-material
supply, production, transportation, inventory management, information sys-
tems, ordering processes, material handling, customer management, and
customs clearance (Tezuka, 2011). Mentzer et al. (2001) defne supply-chain
management “as a group of three or more entities (organizations or individu-

als) directly involved in upstream and downstream fows of products, services,
fnances, and/or information from a source to a customer.” Carefully designed
supply-chain management can help reduce costs and improve fnancial per-
formance. Supply-chain management represents the effcient integration of
suppliers, manufacturing companies, and distributors (Dadashpour & Bozorgi-
Amiri, 2020). Given growing globalization, supply-chain management is mak-
ing signifcant efforts in terms of accountability and sustainability (Gurzawska,
2019).
Advances in technology, environmental standards, customer requirements,
organizational structures (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing) and the
introduction of new and/or innovative products are leading to increasing com-
plexity in supply chains. Sustainable supply chains (SSC) can be defned as
complex systems that consider social, environmental, and economic impacts
in addition to managing goods from suppliers to customers and vice versa
(Barbosa-Póvoa et al., 2018; Alkhuzaim et al., 2021). The goal of the sustain-
able supply chain is to improve the company’s internal processes through
environmental and social practices, as well as improve the supplier process
(Wang & Dai, 2018). Authors Kuik et al. (2011) stated that the supply chain can
be improved through the process and product design. Process improvement
includes reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing, while product design includes
reduction, recovery, and redesign.
Sustainable-supply-chain management (SSCM) can be a strategic compo-
nent that increases a company’s effectiveness and competitiveness, achieves
better customer service and can increase proftability (Tseng et al., 2015).
Compared to standard supply-chain management, sustainable-supply-chain
management is more focused on environmental and/or community issues
(Gloet & Samson, 2020).
3PL Providers
A 3PL provider represents a company that has logistics expertise (know-
how). 3PL providers have integrated, contact-based, and consultative func-
tions (Tezuka, 2011). “A 3PL covers all services to effectively plan, store, and
manage every type of product, service, and information fow from the begin-
ning to the end of the supply chain” (Faruk Gürcana et al., 2016, p. 227).
3PL providers are also responsible for turnover, assembly, labeling, loading,
unloading, repackaging, and distribution (Batarlienė & Jarašuˉnienė, 2017).
They are increasingly oriented toward the e-commerce and retail sectors. 3PL
providers can impact (reduce) the logistics and inventory costs of companies
(Dadashpour & Bozorgi-Amiri, 2020). A 3PL provider picks up shipments from
manufacturers, consolidates shipments at distribution centers, and transports
them to customers (Jung, 2017). The 3PL providers are often referred to as
supply-chain designers.
6.3 Case-Study Analysis of 3PL Provider’s

implementation of Autonomous Vehicles
It is commonly known that autonomous vehicles have been used in logistics
for decades. However, so far they have only been used in controlled envi-
ronments such as manufacturing plants, ports, and distribution centers (Van
Meldert & De Boeck, 2016; Flämig, 2016; Shah & Arengo Piragine, 2018). 3PL
service providers offer a wide range of services and are now faced with the
challenge of operating more effciently, fexibly, and sustainably. Therefore,
the topic of using autonomous vehicles in the 3PL business is receiving more
and more attention from the business and academic communities. In the fol-
lowing part, the main features of autonomous vehicles are presented and
analyzed on a global scale using case studies of leading 3PL service providers.
Main Features of an Autonomous Vehicle

An autonomous vehicle is a type of vehicle that drives itself. According to
Van Meldert and De Boeck (2016), an autonomous vehicle is “a set of hard-
ware and complex software technologies that together form the system that
enables autonomy.” “It relies on three elements: sensors for sensing the envi-
ronment and its movement, on-board computers, and actuators for vehicle
control” (Luettel et al., 2012, p. 1832). To achieve accurate environment sens-
ing, it is necessary to use RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) and LIDAR
(Light Detection and Ranging). They are both image-based sensors, but
with one major difference: RADAR uses radio waves and LIDAR uses lasers
or LED light. GPS is used to estimate the movement of the vehicle. The
onboard computer and all sensors must be calibrated and work as a unit.
All processing onboard the vehicle must be done in real-time. The purpose
of the actuator is to close the control loop, e.g., vehicle control, braking,
etc. (Luettel et al., 2012; Shah & Arengo Piragine, 2018). Authors Shah and
Arengo Piragine (2018) mention that vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communica-
tion is being added in more and more automated vehicles. The purpose of
V2V communication is to exchange information between vehicles. All the

technology mentioned above is used to detect other vehicles, traffc signs,
traffc lights, and pedestrians.
An autonomous vehicle does not require the active absence of the driver.
Autonomous vehicles may be able to make quicker decisions at a critical
moment. In other words, an autonomous vehicle could increase road safety
and thus protect human lives. By using GPS and V2V communication, the
autonomous vehicle receives information about the busiest routes and traffc
jams. In this way, it can select less busy roads and adjust its driving according
to the movements of other vehicles. According to Van Meldert and De Boeck
(2016), logistics operations throughout the supply chain, from raw-material
extraction and intermediate transportation to operations in warehouses, dis-
tribution centers, and manufacturing plants, to the last-mile bridging system,
can be infuenced by the use of AVs, creating the potential for new business
models while ending the prospects of existing ones.
Autonomous vehicles can be used in four segments: Indoor logistics,
outdoor environment, long-distance transportation, and last-mile delivery.
Autonomous vehicles are most commonly used in indoor logistics, where con-
trolled conditions and predefned routes exist (Van Meldert & De Boeck, 2016;
Shah & Arengo Piragine, 2018). The use of autonomous vehicles can make the
process more fexible, effcient, and fast. As mentioned earlier, autonomous
vehicles work indoors in ideal conditions, but the goal of the logistics indus-
try is to use them outdoors, in an unsafe environment. Autonomous vehicles
have already been deployed in private, controlled outdoor conditions such as
seaports, airports, and logistics yards (Shah & Arengo Piragine, 2018). Similar
to previous targets, the goal of AVs is to reduce (eliminate) the possibility of
human error, ensure accurate and precise driving, continuously monitor the
goods and vehicles, and reduce fuel consumption and human-labor costs (Van
Meldert & De Boeck, 2016).
Uncontrolled outdoor transportation can be divided into several parts:
The frst mile, the line haul, and the last mile. The frst mile and the last mile
are similar in terms of transportation manipulation since they take place
in urban areas. On the other hand, line-haul transportation is the longest
part of the transportation route which is more predictable and easy (Shah
& Arengo Piragine, 2018). Line haul transportation implies driving autono-
mous vehicles on public roads and highways. The participation of autono-
mous vehicles in this part of transportation can be risky in terms of traffc
accidents. Autonomous vehicles are not yet advanced enough to be able to
follow and react to the behavior of other vehicles in traffc. It’s important
to note that the technology that could change the long-haul transportation
industry has introduced the concept of platooning, also called road trains.
Platooning is the formation of two or more vehicles where the frst vehicle
(leader) determines the driving of the second vehicle (follower). Thanks to
automation technology and V2V communication, the vehicles can drive at
a smaller distance compared to the situation where the driver controls the
vehicle. According to Agility (2017), “the goal of platooning is to improve
safety, effciency, and congestion, primarily due to existing speeds between
vehicles.” Platooning could affect all stakeholders, especially developers,
users, policymakers, and regulators involved in the process of navigation
and transportation (Janssen et al., 2015). The challenge faced by 3PL provid-
ers is last-mile delivery. Last-mile delivery involves transportation to reach
local stores and customers. It is complex due to transportation with slower
speed, narrow roads, smaller consignments of goods, and the greater num-
ber of manipulations with goods (Van Meldert & De Boeck, 2016). The
environment is also more complex because it includes different types of
subjects, from pedestrians and cyclists to different types of vehicles (Shah &
Arengo Piragine, 2018).
Implementation of Autonomous Vehicles

Implementation of autonomous vehicles has several stages to be taken.
According to the United States Department of Transport, NHTSA (2021), there
are six levels of automation: From zero to fve (Table 6.1).
In level zero, humans do all the driving. In the frst level of automation,
an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) as part of the vehicle can assist
the driver in steering or braking/accelerating (only one operation is possible
at a time). In the second level of automation, an advanced driver-assistance
system (ADAS) can control steering and braking/acceleration under certain
circumstances. The driver must pay full attention the entire time. In the third
level of automation, an automated driver system (ADS) can handle all aspects
of the driving task (steering, braking, accelerating), but only under certain
conditions. The driver must be able to take control at any time. The driver
must continue to monitor the environment. In the fourth level of automa-
tion, an automated driving system (ADS) can take over all driving tasks and
monitor the environment, but the driver’s attention is still required. In the
ffth level of automation, an automated driving system (ADS) can perform all
driving tasks, regardless of the driving conditions. At this level, the human
is only the passenger and does not need to intervene in the driving process.
table 6.1 Levels of Automation.

Level of
automation Characteristics
0 ◾ No automation
◾ the driver performs all the driving tasks
1 ◾ Driver assistance
◾ the driver controls the vehicle; some driving-assist features may be
included in vehicle design
2 ◾ Partial automation
◾ vehicle has some automated functions (accelerating, steering,
braking); driver stays engaged with driving task and monitors the
driving environment
3 ◾ Conditional automation
◾ driver is not required to monitor the vehicle and driving environment,
but needs to be prepared to take over control of the vehicle at any time
4 ◾ High automation
◾ the vehicle is able to perform driving entirely by itself, in certain
conditions; the driver has the option to control the vehicle
5 ◾ Full automation
◾ the vehicle is capable of controlling all the driving in all conditions;
driver may participate in controlling the vehicle
Source: Authors’ elaboration based on NHTSA (2021).
According to SAE (2014) in Di Febbraro and Sacco (2016), automation levels

could be divided into two classes: Class one represents level zero, level one,
and level two where the human monitors the driving environment, while class
two represents level three, level four, and level fve where the automated driv-
ing system (autonomous vehicle) monitors the driving environment.
The analysis of the implementation of autonomous vehicles is based on the
case study methodology. This method is widely used in logistics and supply-
chain research (Pavlić Skender & Zaninović, 2020). The case-study method-
ology is used because it allows for numerous ways of obtaining data and is
methodologically unconstrained in terms of data analysis (Yin, 2009; Cudzilo
& Voronina, 2020). The analysis compares three cases of global top 3PL pro-
viders based on Armstrong and Associates’ offcial website from 2020’s list
of top 3PLs (Logistics Management, 2020). Namely, the case-study analysis is
conducted on DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding, Nippon Express, and
DB Schenker.
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding

DHL is a German, leading global 3PL service provider. It offers a wide range of
services, from technical solutions for companies and transport organizations to
fnding new technological solutions and improving existing ones (DHL, 2021a).
DHL presented an automobile warehouse of the future, which includes
advanced technological solutions such as warehouse automation, autonomous
vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), wearables, augmented reality, the
Internet of Things, and Big Data. Since the focus of this article is on auton-
omous vehicles, only these will be discussed in more detail. Autonomous
vehicles are suitable for transporting large and heavy parts. This is because
they can support autonomous-parts picking, full-pallet picking, and the fling
process (DHL, 2021b). DHL has developed several autonomous vehicles for
in-house use (warehouse):
1) Narrow-aisle robots—primarily intended for slow-moving warehouses

with limited shelf-location changes; they can autonomously drive and
pick or dispose of the correct packages, and simultaneously adjust to the
required shelf height;
2) bin focus—appropriated for larger warehouses and fast-moving warehouses
with small items; it can autonomously navigate the warehouse; operators can
add items while the vehicle is moving toward a specifc place;
3) pallet focus—appropriate for larger and fast-moving warehouses where
operators need to cover long distances; autonomous vehicle transport
pallets in the warehouse;
4) bin focus—appropriate for large warehouses with high output and prod-
uct range; they can navigate the way to every product that is needed to
be transported;
5) pallet focus—intended for central-distribution warehouses; operators
drive the vehicle to the picking location, and then step to activate “follow-
me” mode; an operator can then put focus on the picking process;
6) goods-to-person robot—appropriate for aftermarket warehouses for pick-
ing small items with high turnover (e.g., e-commerce); it can move shelves
to the operator;
7) Meerkat inventory robot—appropriate for large fast-moving warehouses that
store pallets; its purpose is to check the stock and analyze each location
while using several technologies such as cameras, lasers, and scanners;
8) automated inventory system—appropriate for construction inventory
facilities or urban distribution centers; it uses robots and bins to quickly
process small items and orders;
9) cleaning robot—it cleans the space during quiet times; the operator gives
the instructions regarding starting and ending position; the operator is
also needed to position and refll the robot.
According to DHL (2021c), one of the most important future implementa-

tions (fve- to ten-year technology trend) is self-driving vehicles (autonomous
vehicles), which are planned for implementation in long-distance trucking and
the last-mile (Figure 6.1). Autonomous vehicles have entered common and
public spaces, including highways, sidewalks, and ports. Right now, autono-
mous vehicles cannot drive autonomously on roads for legal, safety, and oper-
ational reasons. In other words, a human driver is still needed.
Figure 6.1 Logistics trend Radar (High impact).

Source: Authors’ elaboration based on DHL (2021c).
Figure 6.1 shows that in less than fve years, big-data analytics, the Internet
of things, cloud and APIs, robotics and automation, and artifcial intelligence
will have a major impact on logistics. In the next fve to ten years, the focus
will be on autonomous vehicles, next-generation security, and super-grid
logistics.
In 2019, a truck autonomously delivered butter from California to
Pennsylvania (that’s a distance of 4,500 km). The delivery would normally
take nine days, but by using an autonomous vehicle, the goods were delivered
in three. It’s important to note that the weather conditions were not good.
DHL also started working with a California startup, Ike, to increase the safety
and effciency of transportation on highways. On local roads and near facili-
ties, the absence of a human driver in a vehicle is required. On long-distance
transport (highways), the vehicle could drive autonomously (DHL, 2021c).
Nippon Express
Nippon Express is the third-best 3PL provider in the world and Japan’s largest
global logistics company. It provides solutions for warehousing, transporta-
tion, and local distribution of goods. In 2020, Nippon Express implemented a
smart warehouse. The advanced technology includes (Tao, 2020):
1) AutoStore—robot storage system whose purpose is to maximize storage

effciency;
2) EVE—an automated transport robot;
3) Rack fork auto—an automated forklift that does not need the presence of
a human;
4) AGV—an automated guided vehicle;
5) Thouzer—a target-guided autonomous vehicle;
6) Projection picking system—a digital picking system employing image-
processing technology;
7) RFID Tunnel Gate—a device that uses RFID tags to improve the eff-
ciency of inspection work.
In 2019, Nippon Express began nighttime, unattended operations to pre-

pare for shipping. Automated forklifts and automated vehicle convoys were
used. In 2019, a joint experiment on level-four automated vehicles was con-
ducted on a public road (Nippon Express, 2019). Work is underway to develop
the crawler type of automated driverless vehicle, which could reduce energy
consumption and ensure better safety of human life at workplaces such as
terminals. Also, the effectiveness of manned-truck platooning is being ana-

lyzed (Nippon Express, 2020).
DB Schenker
DB Schenker is one of the world’s largest 3PL providers in Denmark. It offers a
wide range of services such as transportation, labeling, packaging, warehous-
ing, and distribution (DB Schenker, 2021).
The frst autonomous all-electric vehicle is being tested on a public road
in Sweden. Permission to drive on a public road is granted by the Swedish
Transport Agency. The autonomous vehicle, named T-Pod, is a self-driving
vehicle that will drive the route between two locations of DB Schenken. The
route includes a public road in parts. T-Pod is monitored by an operator who
can remotely control the vehicle if necessary. With one load, the vehicle can
travel about 200 km, carrying about twenty tons of cargo (DB Schenker, 2019).
In 2020, DB Schenker introduced an autonomous forklift vehicle in ware-
house logistics. The forklift vehicle is equipped with a height-adjustable
forklift. It can be used to lift and lower containers (Gill, 2020). Among the
analyzed 3PL providers, it can be seen that autonomous vehicles are the near
future of supply chains. The analyzed providers are already testing autono-
mous vehicles on public roads. Regarding the level of automation, in indoor
logistics, level four is already implemented and in use, and full implemen-
tation of level fve is expected shortly. In outdoor logistics (public places),
some successful tests have been conducted, but the full implementation of
autonomous vehicles might not be possible in the next fve years.
6.4 Benefts and Potential Challenges of

implementation of Autonomous Vehicles
According to Flämig (2016), “from a microeconomic point of view, a shortage
of drivers, an energy-saving driving style, high reliability, and accident avoid-
ance are key reasons for the use of autonomous systems in the freight-transport
chain.” The implementation of autonomous vehicles in the supply chain can
bring benefts such as cost effciency, safety, fexibility, and environmental
friendliness (Sell et al., 2019), minimization of waste streams and damaged
goods, energy optimization, minimization of human errors, and increased
safety of human lives (Bechtsis et al., 2018). According to Shah et al. (2019)
and Pendleton et al. (2017), the benefts of automated vehicles include reduced
labor costs (eliminating the need for human workers), increased safety stan-
dards (use of high technology in automated vehicles reduces the possibility
of accidents), maximized accuracy and productivity (minimizing errors and
mistakes in production lines), and ease of expansion and upgrade (companies
can easily update the process). Themplementtation of autonomous vehicles
by 3PL providers (as part of the supply chain) could change drivers’ roles. As
the driver is not responsible for driving the vehicle, he could take over other
tasks during the transport process, e.g., route planning, documentation, and
other administrative tasks, or he could rest Flämig (2016). Since autonomous
vehicles are electrically powered, another beneft could be that noise emis-
sions are reduced even at lower speeds and light emissions are reduced. The
use of autonomous vehicles could speed up the delivery of goods to the cus-
tomer (reduced delivery time), as the ordered package can be delivered to the
customer’s doorstep at any time (day or night) (Hörl et al., 2016).
On the other hand, there are several disadvantages, such as high initial
costs (autonomous vehicles are cost-effective only when long-term investments
are made), equipment-maintenance costs (maintenance of automated vehicles
can slow down the process), unsuitability for non-repetitive production lines
(autonomous vehicles are cost-effective only when economies of scale are
involved), and infexibility of operation (autonomous vehicles can perform
only one task at a time) (Shah et al., 2019). In addition to the aforementioned
disadvantages, Litman (2021) notes additional accidents due to system failures,
platooning, increased overall vehicle mileage, invasion of privacy (hacking
risk), increased infrastructure costs, possible reduction in alternative mobility
such as walking and biking, reduced employment, and also optimistic predic-
tions about autonomous vehicles could reduce interest in other transporta-
tion improvements. Autonomous vehicles could bring new safety issues. It is
thought that people would feel safer in traffc and reduce the use of seat belts.
One of the main benefts is the elimination of human error, but that does
not mean the elimination of machine error at the same time. Due to the lack
of subjectivity, a moral dilemma arises in the event of a traffc accident (self-
interest of autonomous vehicles to protect cargo or socially benefcial decision
to protect other participants) (Taeihagh & Min Lim, 2019).
6.5 Conclusion
The autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that, with the help of advanced techno-
logical solutions, analyzes the environment in which it is moving and adjusts
its driving accordingly (accelerates, decelerates, brakes, stops). Autonomous

vehicles on public roads could be the next step in the evolution of the trans-
portation system. 3PL providers could play an important role in this pro-
cess as they are creators (designers) of supply chains. 3PL providers represent
companies that have various important functions in the transportation sys-
tem, such as warehousing, inventory management, and information systems.
Autonomous vehicles are mainly used in indoor logistics (e.g., warehouses)
and outdoor logistics (e.g., private ports, airports). In other words, they are
used under controllable and predictable conditions.
The companies analyzed represent the world’s most advanced 3PL provid-
ers according to the Armstrong & Associates’ Top 50 Global 3PLs. The 3PL
providers analyzed are DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding (Germany),
Nippon Express (Japan), and DB Schenker (Denmark). All observed 3PL pro-
viders have already fully implemented automation level four in indoor logis-
tics. The implementation of level fve could happen very soon. Several tests
have been conducted in the outdoor logistics area. The biggest leap among
the observed 3PL providers was made by DB Schenker, which is testing the
frst autonomous fully electric vehicle in outdoor logistics in Sweden.
Although there are many benefts of autonomous vehicles such as cost
effciency, safety, fexibility, reduction of pollution and energy consumption,
reduction of congestion (in the long run), protection of human life, and reduc-
tion of traffc accidents, there are certain challenges that slow down the imple-
mentation of autonomous vehicles. These challenges could be laws, high initial
costs, maintenance costs, increase in traffc accidents at the beginning of the
implementation (due to the participation of classical—driver-controlled—and
autonomous vehicles in traffc), increase in infrastructure costs, hacking risks,
etc. The implementation of autonomous vehicles could speed up the delivery
process, especially when it comes to long-distance and last-mile deliveries, but
it is important to note that even autonomous vehicles cannot solve the chal-
lenge of the bottleneck between long-distance and last-mile deliveries.
It must be acknowledged that the literature and data on this topic are lim-
ited, as intelligent technology and autonomous vehicles are at an early stage
of development.
This research contributes to the existing literature by recognizing the
importance of implementing intelligent solutions in the supply chain, espe-
cially from an autonomous-vehicle perspective. The results of the research can
serve as valuable information and guidelines for the managers and logistics
operators to make further decisions regarding the technology and intelligent
solutions.
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Chapter 7
Sustainability Requirements
for Micro and Small
Food-Processing Companies
Marko Lukavac and Dejan Miljenović
Contents
7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 157
7.2 A Critical Review of the Literature ........................................................ 159
7.3 Research Method ................................................................................... 161
7.4 Results .................................................................................................... 162
7.5 Discussing the Results of Other People’s Research .............................168
7.6 Implications for Theory and Practice ................................................... 170
7.7 Conclusions ............................................................................................ 176
References .......................................................................................................177
7.1 introduction
Constant modernization of supply chain and logistics in almost any sec-
tor leads to higher effciency, lower cost, and competitive advantages (Lu &
Borbon-Galvez, 2012). According to the authors, supply-chain and logistics
modernization should not be the source of non-competitiveness for micro
and small companies. Sustainability strategies and regulations went on high
standards, especially in specifc industries like energy, pharmaceutical, health
in general, food production, and food processing. Logistics services of the
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-9 157

named sectors got a chance during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve eff-
ciency and effectiveness. Sustainable food processing and logistics derive from
supply chains made considering several micro and small-scale suppliers. Big
retail chains (retailers) “love to brag” with a supply of domestic products, eco-
friendlier than those being massively imported. There is a question of how
much they are motivated in the context of being socially responsible, but at
the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, micro and small domestic sup-
pliers represented much safer sources of supply than foreign suppliers. This
was the case with retailers in Croatia; to manage a more sustainable supply
chain, big retailers engaged small food-processing and -providing companies.
However, these small companies were then challenged with the economy-of-
scale issue—to provide multiple retailers with the same quantity-quality ratio.
This defnes a logistical problem in the area of sustainability where small food-
processing companies have the objective to achieve standard effective distri-
bution while optimally adapting to different retail chains and large logistics
subjects on the market. Usually, food assortment in stock requires controlled
temperature, humidity, and very specifc technical handling conditions. That
is a necessary condition, especially in the case of perishable and frozen food.
This chapter discusses specifc problems of contemporary logistics effciency,
describing three logistic business models with an analysis based on the usual
business environment, but concerning COVID-19 infuence; the chapter offers
a sustainable distribution model in the food supply chain as food processing
can be noted as a national strategic branch. Therefore, this chapter also gives
answers to actual research questions:
1) How does one identify the main effects of retailers and wholesalers on the
logistical effectiveness of micro and small companies as food suppliers?
2) How does one optimize distribution and adapt the supply chain of small
companies, the food suppliers, to large retail and wholesale stores?
3) To what extent is the logistical mismatch described previously a result of
idiosyncratic shortcomings of micro and small companies, the food sup-
pliers, in achieving sustainable and adaptive supply-chain management?
The research objective is to analyze the positive impact of implementing

optimal logistics models in and for micro and small companies so that they
can provide logistic services to retail businesses and create sustainable value
in the food industry. The scientifc contribution of the chapter is refected in
the logistics business model that leads to the harmonization of logistics busi-
ness processes, which mostly leads to the adjustment of logistics business
Requirements for Small Food-Processing Companies ◾ 159
processes of large business entities in the feld of trade and logistics services to
micro and small entities to whom growth and development place the greatest
emphasis on EU budgetary policies. Adoption of new technologies, enabling
infrastructure, digitalization, and development of new products by micro and
small business entities based on EU funds seems futile, if ultimately, in the
context of this paper, the business model in the feld of logistics is a source of
non-competitiveness, i.e., one of the elements of the unsustainability of micro
and small entities as suppliers to traders and users of outsourced logistics
services.
This chapter provides literature review and presentation of research meth-
ods for different case studies of logistic services. Main research results indicate
that in a case of a micro/small food supplier for large retailers as users of
logistics services assortment requires highly controlled conditions. Discussion
of similar contemporary research is given from the context of economic sus-
tainability. Implications of the research for theory and practice are elaborated
in the last part of the chapter before the conclusion.
7.2 A Critical Review of the Literature

Dealing with sustainability issues is not a simple task, as the value of eco-
nomic sustainability of all links in the supply chain still does not seem to be
recognized as the most important. Still, this leads to issues of environmental
and social sustainability versus economic sustainability in the context of social
economy and not the sustainable profts of only one company in the long
term.
The authors of this chapter fnd inspiring work with similar views on eco-
nomic problems in the research of Saleh and Roslin (2015), where the idea of
integrative relationships through effective communication and coordination
among food supply-chain partners enables frms to control the entire food-
delivery process, allowing them to meet customers’ expectations and maxi-
mize customers’ value; it also provides numerous benefts to the frm either
in the form of economic or noneconomic value. A review of the literature of
that paper has directed the authors toward papers indicating that, in Malaysia,
the food-processing industry played a signifcant role in Malaysian economic
growth (Ahmed, 2012). According to the Companies Commission of Malaysia
(cited from Saleh & Roslin, 2015), many frms were urged to close due to
supply-chain performance problems, which can be supported by the research
of Tukamuhabwa (2011) using the example from Uganda, too. Integrative
relationships through the food supply chain represents a solution, but as 70%
of supply-chain relationships tend to fail according to Sambasivan et al. (2011),
it is vital to identify factors that infuence the failure or success of supply-chain
partnerships or integration initiatives from the perspective of soft behavioral
attributes (Saleh & Roslin, 2015).
This paper, with a topic on the feld of logistics, shows how food logistics
play a crucial role in the management of the food supply chain. Lazarides
(2011) defnes it as a system that aims at effcient production, processing, and
distribution to protect quality, assure safety, promote the fair and transparent
distribution of created value, enhance consumer access to wholesome and
healthy food at reasonable prices, and support the sustainable development
of rural communities. In the domain of ensuring quality and food safety as
imperatives, Mu et al. (2021) notice the importance of a practical supply chain
that can adapt to be resilient to food-safety shocks. The proposed logistics
model, by making the logistic process more synchronized, reduces the num-
ber of steps in deliveries and lowers the risk of inconsistencies in food-safety
terms, especially when the source of supply is perishable or frozen food that
requires controlled delivery conditions.
Further, in the context of sustainable-supply-chain management, the impor-
tance of “systems thinking,” a higher degree of collaboration and effective
communication as a result of interdependencies across the supply chain in
the context of lowering the costs and uncertainty, are recognized by Hobbs
(2021). The COVID-19 pandemic partially encouraged supply-chain factors to
identify key sources of risks in logistics, and to defne more sustainable sup-
ply strategies. The authors analyze the logistics models based on DSD (direct-
to-store delivery) and CWD (central-warehouse delivery) through a practical
prism, but the contribution of the work stems primarily from the newly pro-
posed logistics model. Authors do not fnd direct basis for the proposed logis-
tics model, aptly named the Inclusive & Partly Circular Model, in the literature.
Nevertheless, the authors point out that it can be conceptually placed in the
domain of the so-called circular-economy (CE) framework. In the CE segment,
signifcant growth of scientifc research is noticeable but much more in the
primary domain that CE propagates. According to Geissdoerfer et al. (2017),
CE is seen as “a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emis-
sion, and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing
material and energy loops.” Hazen et al. (2020) discuss how supply-chain pro-
cesses can support the successful implementation of CE, while Bernon et al.
(2018) address the issue of retail reverse logistics, placing it in the frame of CE.
Given the proposed circular supply process that contributes to sustainability,
leaving the hitherto exclusively linear model, the authors recognize the link
of contribution to CE and indicate how CE can and should be seen through
the perspective of developing micro and small suppliers in the food sup-
ply chain. That is merged with the inseparability of economic sustainability
from environmental and social sustainability, and with fndings that circular
business and circular supply chains help in realizing sustainability ambitions
Geissdoerfer et al. (2018).
Lastly, the authors of this chapter agree with the extended visions of Fernie
and Sparks (2018) stating how holding stocks just in case they may be needed
is a highly costly activity. This refers to situation when warehouses and dis-
tribution centers are also expensive if not being effciently used with all their
infrastructure (vehicles, package handling services) on a high operational
level. Consequently, the necessity of effcient as well as environmentally sen-
sible logistics operations arises, but the authors, using a case study, point out
in this chapter the exclusive focus that traders have on their own effcient and
sustainable performance, which impairs effciency and sustainability at the
level of the entire supply chain.
7.3 Research Method

Using descriptive, correlative, causal, and so-called feld methods, the authors
describe, predict, and explain observations in real-world settings, combin-
ing science and practice, using their own experiences in the academic com-
munity and experiences in addressing logistical challenges within the active
management of companies in the food-processing industry. Using a qualitative
approach, the authors quantify observations with data from a primary source.
Primary data consist of the accounting documentation and parts of con-
tracts of the company (which was differently classifed by size during the last
decade, from small to the micro producer in the domain of the food pro-
cessing industry), with logistic companies, retailers, and wholesalers in the
Republic of Croatia. Even the case is done according to the data of the com-
pany from the food-processing industry, specifcally with frozen assortment,
problems, and mismatches, which will be presented and can be observed as
the problems and mismatches of the most micro and small suppliers to the
main retail and wholesalers in the Republic of Croatia, regardless of the seg-
ment of supply. After all, a case based on the food-processing industry with
data and conditions based specifcally on the frozen assortment that requires
controlled temperatures can enhance other research in the context of the
topic that would contribute to the fndings of this chapter, and make this topic
generalized and not only limited to the food-processing-industry suppliers,
i.e., the food supply chain.
Primary data are used with the consent of the authorized person represent-
ing the company in the food-processing industry with a product line requir-
ing controlled-temperature conditions. The authors recognize the company’s
problems related to logistics. Considering the research approach, which uses
many years of experience in the feld of logistics, all descriptions, predictions,
and explanations are considered to be the result of the so-called experimental
method, too.
Considering the company’s assortment requiring controlled-temperature
conditions, a long tradition of more than three decades, the company’s pres-
ence on the national market of the Republic of Croatia, the company’s business
success related to product quality, the share of highly qualifed management,
stable fnancial position, and success in obtaining funds from EU funds, the
authors think that that the presented research results can be generalized about
the selected company, i.e., that all negative aspects related to the described
research problem, given other characteristics of the company, cannot be con-
sidered only as its idiosyncratic shortcoming. The company statement and
profle, a document that proves authors were allowed to do and publish the
research and main data of the company, is available upon request.
7.4 Results
In the context of this chapter, emphasis is placed on micro and small produc-
ers in the domain of the food-processing industry with a fnal product that
requires controlled-temperature conditions to preserve the health and safety
of the product. So, this is a business that requires a refrigerated or frozen
regime when using logistics services. The focus is on this group of produc-
ers, given that retail or wholesale channels are usually the only way to mar-
ket such products (perishable fresh and frozen food), given that direct sale
between producers and end consumers are prevented by the lack of adequate
delivery of postal packages to send perishable fresh and frozen food or the
price’s non-competitiveness of such deliveries.
The accuracy of the previous statements is confrmed by the high con-
centration in the domain of the food-processing industry in the Republic of
Croatia, where the largest national companies dominate the placement of
food products on the shelves of traders. This is especially pronounced in the
domain of frozen assortment as the most demanding segment that shows the
need for impeccable maintenance of the cold chain during logistics processes
from production to place in the store, in which companies registered for pro-
duction and distribution of frozen food have an almost monopolistic position.
This confrms the ultimate intention of large trade entities to operate with
large food suppliers, especially in the domain of fresh perishable or frozen
food, which requires a special temperature regime upon delivery and which
requires special storage conditions in the placement in the store. It is clear
that the developed outbound logistics of the largest business entities for the
production and distribution of fresh perishable or frozen food assumes DSD is
a key source of competitive advantage over micro and small suppliers in the
same segment that rely on outsourcing of logistics operations.
Analyzing the contracts of the company in the food-processing industry
with a frozen assortment and the largest traders, with the aim of understand-
ing and then creating an optimal logistic model to support the business model,
the authors defned and described limiting factors for optimizing logistics
processes of micro and small food suppliers whose assortment requires con-
trolled storage and delivery conditions.
Major maladjustments of large trade entities to do business with micro
and small suppliers of food that require controlled conditions of storage and
delivery are:
1) Impossibility of combining Central Warehouse (CW) and DSD.

2) Systematization of stores and assortment according to the store size.
3) JIT optimized orders by traders, at a given place on a specifc date of
delivery according to the administered logistical conditions of transport
pallets and packaging.
Detected negative impacts for micro and small food suppliers following major
maladjustments of large trade entities are as follows:
1) Small producers, as suppliers of food that require controlled logistics

conditions, rely on outsourcing of outbound logistics due to capital con-
straints and non-specialization in the logistics services to operate on a
national level. Due to the limited service and high prices of DSD of
national logistics based on the cost of delivery by location and not only
by weight or volume of delivery, as a consequence of the narrow range
and failure to achieve economies of scale when delivering to a single
point of sale (store), small producers can most often serve stores on a
national level only through delivery at the CW of national traders, relying

later on traders’ inbound logistics.
At the same time, ineffciency comes to the fore when producers are far
from the location of the CW. For example, at the expense of the manu-
facturer, i.e., the supplier from his place of production and storage, the
goods are transported 300 kilometers and more to the CW of the trader
and then delivered by the inbound logistics of the trader, again at the
supplier’s expense. Returns in-store bear the production or storage of the
supplier, where they can be independently serviced promptly and for a
lower cost on a DSD basis by the supplier.
2) A barrier has been created in the supply of small-format stores due to the
underdevelopment of inbound logistics of national traders, which is also
partly based on the outsourcing of logistics services to national logistic
entities. Neither national traders nor national logisticians have an exten-
sive network of distribution logistics centers, which makes it diffcult and
often impossible to make store deliveries of goods from CWs to small-
format stores that are usually located in crowded locations, i.e., by itself
with signifcant consumption, but often with inadequate infrastructure to
absorb the logistic suprastructure.
3) The business policy of retailers is that stores are systematized accord-
ing to the size of the store, according to which the assortment range is
defned. More specifcally, a small supplier will get the opportunity to
place its products “on the shelves,” but only in stores of the largest for-
mats scattered throughout the Republic of Croatia. Such a model intro-
duces the issue of logistics for national distribution, but also potentially
reduces stock turnover because certain products, especially the so-called
supporting products to the basic product of a certain brand, are not
equally characteristic for different geographic areas, which is especially
evident in the Republic of Croatia where there are signifcant differences
in consumer preferences depending on the climate of living or origin.
The determination of the assortment range by store size is also driven by
the limitations detected under point 2. Also, within this point, the prob-
lem is more related to retailers than to wholesalers as a result of the fact
that the sales centers of wholesalers are the largest formats with a strong
infrastructure, which allows the assortment range to be adjusted to the
regional needs of businesses. The business of wholesalers is based on
the B2B model, which assumes serving a limited number of customers
whose needs signifcantly affect the business policies of wholesalers in
the context of the diversity of the assortment range.
4) Orders to traders’ CWs under the JIT model do not take into account
the signifcant logistical constraints of micro and small food suppliers.
According to Hobbs (2021), the food-retail sector operates on a JIT deliv-
ery system which accounts for normal supply and demand trends. In the
context of COVID-19 impacts on the Republic of Croatia, in the pandem-
ic’s frst wave the JIT model was usually supported by the management
forecasts for up to two months to ensure normal functioning of the food
supply chain which would be useful to suppliers on regular basis, too.
Micro and small suppliers have low bargaining power when negotiating
business terms with national traders and, most often as suppliers of a
narrow assortment range, cannot afford to set minimum-order conditions
that would presuppose at least pallet deliveries. In the continuation of
the chapter, it will be explained why neither the so-called combined pal-
let delivery is sometimes not a solution to optimize the cost of delivery,
due to the nonacceptance of combined pallets to the CWs of traders. In
this regard, the detected problem of requiring transport packaging with
a single transport EAN code arises, which makes it diffcult to organize
the production of small and microenterprises, but eliminates the risk of
mismanagement and mishandling in the CWs of traders. Purchasing IT
systems are set up for automatic orders according to consumption and the
time required to deliver goods by inbound logistics from the CW to the
store. In this way, automatic orders are frequent and of smaller quantities,
arising the advantages of JIT models for traders. IT systems did not incor-
porate the risk of non-delivery by the supplier, but the risk of non-delivery
by the supplier as a shortcoming of the JIT model is most often penalized
by a separate item of the contract between the supplier and the trader.
Consequently, micro and small suppliers do not optimize their logistics
processes when delivering to traders’ CWs, but must sometimes fnd com-
pletely uncompetitive solutions to complete CWD. Additional restrictions
arise from a given delivery date that assumes a steady “ad hoc” delivery
when the opportunity arises, rather than in the context of supply by micro
and small entities in the product domain requiring controlled logistical
conditions. A special delivery problem was also detected when the place
of delivery, i.e., the location of the CW, was located outside the routes, i.e.,
the directions of other CWs and the place of usual deliveries.
Major maladjustments of large logistic service entities to do business with

micro and small suppliers of food that require controlled conditions of storage
and delivery are:
1) Inadequacy of pricing models of large logistics entities.

2) Non-adaptation of vehicles to micro-locations of delivery and collection
of goods.
Detected negative impacts for micro and small food suppliers in accordance
with major maladjustments of large logistic entities include:
1) How the inadequacy of the pricing models of large logistics companies

is mostly refected in the defning of outsourced DSD prices according to
the distance of the delivery location from the logistic main warehouse,
with the determination of limit values of mass or volume of the deliv-
ery. In this way, micro and small suppliers with a narrow assortment
range do not achieve higher weights or delivery volumes, which ultimately
results in expensive smaller deliveries, i.e., an astronomically high cost of
outsourced DSD that exceeds the supplier’s margin, i.e., makes the sup-
plier’s business completely economically unsustainable. This problem is
especially pronounced when the subjects of delivery are cheaper goods
because then the relative cost of delivery in the cost price is particu-
larly high. It should be noted that the analyzed delivery cost is only one
component of the total logistics cost of the supplier, which is addition-
ally included in the cost of pallet delivery of goods from the supplier to
the logistic main warehouse, storage cost, and the cost of handling and
administration of delivery notes. In addition, the cost of handling can be
multiple in situations where the logistics operator operates on the prin-
ciple of distribution centers in local areas and transfers the same goods
within their warehouses until the fnal delivery to the store.
This model was assessed as economically unsustainable in the company
and it was concluded that it is a much more appropriate logistic business
model that provides for deliveries to the CW of traders, relying on their
much more effcient inbound logistics. In this way, the logistical costs of
store delivery were reduced by an average of 50%, but were largely offset
by the cost ineffciency of suppliers’ deliveries to traders’ CWs and lost
revenue due to the reduced number of stores served due to the inability
to combine DSD and CWD.
2) Another factor of the unsuitability of large logistics companies arises
from the model of defning the cost of a pallet storage place according to
an individual item in the warehouse, as a rule additionally with an indi-
vidual lot number. This reduces the risk of expiration of the supplier’s
goods because the goods with the shortest shelf life are issued frst and
additionally ensures accurate traceability, which is imperative in quality

control and correctness of goods but is a major source of cost. That is
the largest source of cost for the so-called supporting items to the basic
product that has lower stock turnover. Due to the stated established
logistical practice, when receiving goods at the CWs of traders, deliveries
are limited to the so-called two sandwich pallets, i.e., with a maximum
of two items in total per one pallet place, which increases the cost of
delivery.
3) In the example of the company, a discrepancy was detected in vehicles
commonly used in the distribution of frozen assortment adapted to DSD
with vehicles of logisticians for the same purpose. Typical vehicles are
those with side doors, while logisticians use classic trucks with back
doors without a ramp, and with temperature regulation. From that, one
can read how the logistics model of logistic companies relies on pallet-
delivery care to larger stores with strong infrastructure and superstruc-
ture rather than on combined micro deliveries at micro-locations.
All the positive and negative impacts are profound to the authors for pro-
posing higher effciency models in research, and in relation to the following
discussion, as well as implications for theory and practice. The chapter uses
the example of the company’s business analysis in the feld of food process-
ing and distribution of frozen assortment to show the logistical challenges
that micro and small suppliers with an assortment that requires controlled
logistical conditions face when placing their products. In the example of the
company, logistics is recognized as a source of non-competitiveness, and solu-
tions are offered below in written implications so that logistics not only ceases
to be a price source of non-competitiveness, but also an eliminating factor for
market presence. The solutions are refected in the adaptation of all links in
the supply chain.
In the context of answering the third question defned in the introduc-
tion, the task of the supplier in the current circumstances is to follow the
trends in the context of modernization of production-logistics-accounting pro-
cesses (EDI, ERP); the adjustment of logistics is refected in the adjustment of
the superstructure and organization of work, i.e., adapting the collection and
delivery of goods at micro-locations, but the authors recognize traders as key
links in achieving competitiveness and economic sustainability of micro and
small food suppliers. The strategic decision of traders to partner with micro
and small suppliers and to be transparent to achieve cost effciency in the feld
of logistics is a necessity.
In the example of the company, it is evident that the choice of delivery to

the CW (Central Warehouse) of traders is a better choice than the outsourced
DSD of national logisticians done for micro or small suppliers. The solution in
the context of supplier ineffciency in shredded deliveries to the CWs of trad-
ers is refected in the analysis of the costs of shredded deliveries of suppliers
against the storage costs of traders and the availability of their storage space. In
a specifc case in the Republic of Croatia, the issue of agreed larger deliveries
of suppliers that exceed the needs of traders by their JIT automatic purchasing
systems, usually set for a shorter period of seven days, records the problem of
cash gaps for traders if they adapt the model of larger orders to micro and small
suppliers to achieve logistical effciency in the supply chain of their goods. The
Law on Prohibition of Unfair Commercial Practice in Food Chain 117/17, pub-
lished in the Offcial Gazette (2017), determines the payment of goods to the
supplier within 30–60 days from the day of delivery. Furthermore, enabling a
combination of CWD (central-warehouse delivery) and DSD in the supplier’s
arrangement, until the logistics are adjusted to the deliveries at the micro-loca-
tion, is a prerequisite for achieving positive effects due to assortment in stores
according to geographical model or maximum-projected-consumption model.
The combination of deliveries opens the possibility of cooperation between
micro and small suppliers in different geographical areas to provide logistics
services and may result in the fnal inclusion of micro suppliers in certain geo-
graphical areas as centers of distribution for national logistic entities or traders
themselves. In addition, the optimal solution is refected in the combination
of inbound logistics processes of traders in the supply of their stores with the
collection of goods at the micro-location of the supplier. In this way, effcient
automated systems of traders based on JIT purchasing should not be made
less effcient to achieve greater effciency in the second felds, but inbound
traders’ logistics would be used as outbound supplier logistics. In certain situ-
ations, the supplier may deliver the goods to the largest format store of an
individual trader in the geographical area (DSD).
7.5 Discussing the Results of other People’s Research

Given the scarcity of literature in the feld of solving challenges in the coop-
eration of micro and small food suppliers and large traders in the context of
logistics, this chapter’s section should be viewed within the papers with sci-
entifc contribution of creating a macro perspective on business sustainability
with an emphasis on the primary economic aspect.
The retail and wholesale market in the Republic of Croatia is extremely

highly concentrated, i.e., a small number of business entities holds a signifcant
market share. Segetlija et al. (2015) state that the concept of concentration can
be seen not only in the context of total revenue but also in the context of the
number of larger or smaller stores. In recent years, there has been a tendency
to further increase national and local market concentration, especially in the
retail market in the Republic of Croatia. The latter is particularly pronounced
in the context of local-store exits, or the takeover of local retail chains with a
smaller market share but a bigger number of local stores by retail chains that
operate nationally. This poses a threat to the survival of micro and small sup-
plier companies in the food-processing industry, which had their proftable
niches in doing business with smaller local retailers by adapting the business
model to them by performing direct-store delivery (DSD) to their stores at the
micro-level. Despite the intention of the largest retail and wholesale entities
to prefer food products of domestic micro and small suppliers in the context
of the range offered, the practice shows that the procedures of the largest
traders on the Croatian market are unsuitable for doing business with micro
and small companies (from assortment inclusion to logistics assumptions). This
showcases the intention to promote domestic production; business with micro
and small food suppliers is mostly used for marketing purposes and to ensure
a much more stable source of goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, which
builds on the fnding of Hobbs (2021) on how dispersed, smaller-scale frms
with shorter supply chains may be more adaptable to COVID-19 requirements.
In the context of all the above, it is interesting to refer to the research of Meinen
and Raff (2018), who in direct import, fnd a source of competitive advantage
in the Danish retail sector for large retailers compared to smaller local retailers
who do not import. Smith (2019) concluded how the direct imports of large
retailers in the US have played an important role in increasing concentration in
the retail sector, too. The author assumes that the data should not be viewed in
the context of the breadth of the assortment range but in the context of fnal-
price competitiveness resulting from cheaper inputs and a supportive logistics
model. Furthermore, Smith and Diaz (2020) fnd that the increase in markups
implied by rising local concentration had a modest effect on retail prices due
to the cost advantages large retailers have. Thus, traders behave much more
like monopsonists, and less like monopolists, and the described policy of trad-
ers is certainly to the detriment of domestic production in the context of its
representation and returns generated by its placement under increasingly poor
sales conditions. This issue needs to be considered in the context of economies
of scale because Linden (2016) states that one of the sources of lowering the
average cost lies in lower input prices in terms of large purchases. Large, inte-
grated purchases are characteristic of highly concentrated markets and domi-
nant supply-chain players, thus gaining a competitive advantage at the expense
of supplier positions. Considering the issue in such a broader sense, the chap-
ter leads to the issue of economic sustainability, with many authors focusing
on examining the negative effects of the so-called unfair trade practices in the
food supply chain.
The issue of unfair trade practices is particularly characteristic of the
European Union, and research is mostly related to the segment of primary
agricultural production. According to Markou et al. (2020), unfair trade prac-
tices between food-chain companies, in the case of Cyprus, have a signifcant
impact on supply-chain stakeholders and the environment, i.e., the cost of
unfair trade practices is refected in as much as 32% of the income of the nega-
tively affected. Furthermore, Swinnen et al. (2019) deal with the issue of unfair
trade practices, but also unfair prices from the perspective of suppliers in the
food supply chain as a consequence of the growth of market concentrations.
Finally, Blizkovsky and Brendes (2017) deal with a similar topic but introduce
the notion of economic unfairness in the form of unfair distribution of added
value created in the food supply chain.
Looking back at the latter, the authors note that in the framework of other
scientifc papers, they are engaged in research on the topic of the economic
sustainability within the food supply chain in which they point out the impor-
tance of the fair fnancial distribution of added value or risk sharing in product
development, and product placement in relation to micro and small producers
with large traders who control the placement of goods, to achieve economic
sustainability of small and microenterprises and direct their business in social
and environmental responsibility frames, too. However, the author’s view is
that a greater degree of integration between micro and small food producers
and traders in the feld of logistics, according to the postulates of the circular
economy (CE), can positively affect the economic sustainability of the frst
ones.
As already pointed out in the review of the literature, strongholds are found
in the literature of Saleh and Roslin (2015) and Geissdoerfer et al. (2017, 2018).
7.6 implications for theory and Practice

Based on previous research and elaborated supply-chain issues of DSD and
CWD, in the context of practical implications authors propose and analyze
the structural effectiveness of three Logistics Models Analysis combinations

(LMAC) depending on the delivery options, as follows: Direct-store model
(DSM), central-warehouse model (CWM), and inclusive and partly circular
model (IPCM).
Figure 7.1 represents the direct-store model (LMAC 1) originally based
on DSD. DSM is for micro-/small-supplier arrangement that usually opens
the possibility of wider product-range availability. However, indifferent to
original DSD, a DSM becomes a signifcant source of non-competitiveness
in a situation where the supplier does not rely on its outbound logistics
processes (outsourced DSD) due to a narrower assortment range of suppli-
ers and a lower turnover of supporting items, e.g., optimized orders of each
store.
The central-warehouse model (Figure 7.2., LMAC 2, based on CWD) signif-
cantly reduces the cost of delivery from the trader’s CW (by combined deliveries)
Figure 7.1 Direct-Store Model (DSM).

Source: Author’s elaboration.
Figure 7.2 Central-Warehouse Model (CWM).

to an individual store (up to as much as 50% compared to individual deliveries

from the main logistics warehouse to an individual store), but generally excludes
the option of DSD and reduces the availability of assortment range of micro/small
suppliers. In addition, non-optimized orders from traders’ CWs, in the context
of micro/small suppliers, result in a source of non-competitiveness in deliveries
between the logistics main warehouse and retailers’ CWs.
Figure 7.3 contains more complex effectiveness relations within the inclusive
and partly circular model (LMAC 3; combination of DSD and CWD). The pro-
posed IPCM assumes a strategic decision of traders in the context of adapting
and optimizing logistics processes to increase their effciency and the effciency
of micro and small food suppliers that require controlled delivery conditions.
The model proposes a combination of DSD and CWD as well as the inclusion
of supplier’s supply-logistics processes within the inbound logistics of traders.
The model is additionally suitable because it opens the possibility of relying
on the traders for the performance of logistics processes performed by micro/
Requirements for Small Food-Processing Companies
◾ 173
Figure 7.3 inclusive and Partly Circular Model (iPCM).
small suppliers with a developed logistics infrastructure and superstructure in

micro-locations, in a certain geographical area.
The basis for research analysis is a development content between three
given LMACs (DSM, CWM, and IPCM). This results in the effciency increase
in the direction from model 1 to model 3, but it should be further emphasized
that in models 2 and, 3 compared to model 1, the supplier remains deprived
of market data that can lead to a decline in sales, in the long run. As much
as models 2 and 3 reduce costs in the feld of logistics and documentation
(e.g., sometimes invoicing only one invoice for delivery to the CW of a trader),
model 1 enables sales tracking at a single point of sale without the additional
involvement of sales representatives. Further, models 2 and 3, in the situation
of aggregate fnancial invoicing of the buyer (trader), require the sharing of the
commercial information of the buyer (trader) to the supplier to better adapt
the range assortment to micro-locations and sustainability of the partnership,
e.g., mainly of the supplier to stay in the supply chain of the trader in the
context of realization of projected sales.
The analysis is done and dependent on the delivery options of the proposed
logistics model (IPCM), and fully includes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
that small and microenterprises face at the operational level. From the author’s
perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged short-term rapproche-
ment between suppliers and traders to reduce economic risks. However, as the
negative consequences of the pandemic leave more and more visible traces on
business, in the context of the relationship of micro and small suppliers with
the largest national traders (this primarily applies to retailers), the relationship
cannot be longer characterized as a partnership. Retaining the short-term prof-
itability of retailers and further growth despite declining turnover in the trade
business is breaking the backs of micro and small suppliers.
Micro and small entities are seen as a generator of economic growth and
diversity, but on the other hand, there is nothing done in the context of
ensuring product placement under the business model that enables economic
sustainability for them. Micro and small food-processing companies in the
domain of logistics are left to maladjustment of logistic operations of traders
and inappropriate price terms of logistician markets that in the Republic of
Croatia is characterized as an oligopoly. Also, the geographical form of the
Republic of Croatia makes logistic operations harder. Consequently, logistics is
recognized as a source of non-competitiveness and also an eliminating factor
for market presence. There is also a question of the need to change access to
purchasing of traders from micro and small suppliers to ensure the economic
sustainability of micro and small companies in the supply chain. That should
be an obligation, which is also provided by the stakeholder theory of corpo-

rate social responsibility, to corporations in doing business with micro and
small suppliers.
Educational programs and science often neglect the business challenges of
micro and small business entities and are more focused on improving busi-
ness processes characteristic of large companies that defne the conditions
for survival in the so-called free-market competition. The policy encourages
the start-up of entrepreneurship, but it also does not address the limitations
of their business. Neither the education system, politics, nor the scientifc
community contribute to the creation of relationships and business culture
between business entities in the market. Economic sustainability of the busi-
ness is the least represented in research subjects compared to social and
environmental sustainability. In the framework of economic sustainability, it
is rarely focused on the economic sustainability of suppliers in the supply
chain to achieve economic sustainability of society; there is always expired
economic sustainability of one company.
Given the importance of the topic, i.e., the possible threat to the business of
small and microenterprises, it is recommended to explore other industrial areas
to detect and eliminate ineffciencies in terms of logistics processes. In addi-
tion, the chapter refers to research aimed at fnding effcient logistics processes
or models of co-fnancing the cost of procurement and shipment of micro and
small, but also medium and large, suppliers of traders whose place of produc-
tion is located on islands or geographical areas with reduced business activity,
too. Great efforts are being made in the development of less developed areas,
the development of islands, and ultimately decentralization in general, but the
next step from such policies may result in price non-competitiveness of com-
panies while ordering their goods from such areas.
This is disastrous if the economy is based on the lowest costs, i.e., the
added value of a cheaper product to enable the consumer within his budget
as much variety of consumed goods and services. It is equally important to
achieve economic fairness in product placement, i.e., to satisfy the correct dis-
tribution of added value in the fnancial context and the distribution of share
risks in product placement. It is evident how this chapter, with such a strong
practical implication, can also be seen from the perspective that contributes
to the triple bottom line (TBL) theory of social responsibility in the domain of
achieving economic sustainability, but of a sequence of companies in the sup-
ply chain, as well as to the stakeholder theory of corporate governance in the
context of integration of stakeholders in the feld of logistics on assumptions
of circular economy (CE).
7.7 Conclusions
Technological solutions in the feld of logistics under controlled-temperature
conditions are mostly aimed at further risk and cost reduction in achieving
economies of scale, while micro and small companies focus their business on
value-added products characteristic of niche markets due to the impossibility
of price competitiveness in this area. This is characterized by lower inventory
turnover, and tighter, shallower product availability, which pose the risk that
placement is not possible due to logistical constraints; on the other hand, the
price calculation of micro and small producers is completely nullifed due to
the inability of traders and logisticians related to logistics, and suppliers from
the food industry with an assortment that requires controlled-temperature
conditions.
This leads to the fact that the micro and small companies in the food
industry, i.e., with an assortment that requires controlled-temperature condi-
tions, come to mutual cooperation, which is primarily due to the coverage of
the need for logistics services, which can be understood as a kind of sharing
economy in the B2B sector. It should be noted that the CWM that assumes
CWD is not always available to all suppliers. In this situation, to lower the
costs of outsourced DSD, cooperation between micro and small suppliers is a
“life-saving” solution. Also, it enables product placement of different small and
micro food producers in regional retail chains. Previous research in this area
confrmed the whole lucrativeness of the logistics business, characterized by
a high degree of market concentration as opposed to traditional distribution,
which, due to the market pressure caused by the high level of supply and the
predatory tendency of traders, can no longer cumulatively include a suffcient
margin to fnance logistics costs and all other sales and marketing costs, as
well as making sales and payment risks.
Qualitative analysis proves how the major maladjustments of large trade
entities to do business with micro and small suppliers of food that requires
controlled conditions of storage and delivery in the Republic of Croatia show
the impossibility of combining CWD and DSD, systematization of stores and
assortment according to the store size, and JIT-optimized orders by traders,
at a given place on a specifc date of delivery according to the administered
logistical conditions of transport pallets and packaging. Further, recognized
major maladjustments of large logistics service entities to do business with
micro and small suppliers of food that requires controlled conditions of stor-
age and delivery in the Republic of Croatia are inadequacy of pricing models
of large logistics entities and non-adaptation of vehicles to micro-locations of
delivery and collection of goods. However, authors recognize traders as key

links in the supply chain in the context of achieving competitiveness and eco-
nomic sustainability of micro and small food suppliers. The strategic decision
of traders to partner with micro and small suppliers and to be transparent to
achieve cost effciency in the feld of logistics is necessary. Appropriately, the
proposed logistics model which assumes the cooperation of micro and small
suppliers and traders in the feld of logistics is developed by the authors and
named the Inclusive & Partly Circular Model (IPCM).
Limitations of the chapter arise from the inductive reasoning based on the
case study as well as solving problems from the supplier’s side through the
food supply chain. Consequently, the chapter gives a lot of space for future
research—from the point of view of testing problems and solutions in other
markets and in other segments of the industry to upgrade the IPCM with the
involvement of logisticians and traders in adapting it to their potential limita-
tions not seen from the perspective of suppliers.
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Chapter 8
Sustainable transport in
the Fruit and Vegetable
Supply Chain
Andrej Udovč and Sandra Bonča
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Contents
8.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................179
8.2 A Critical Review of the Literature ........................................................180
8.3 Research Methods..................................................................................184
8.4 Results ....................................................................................................186
8.5 Discussion ..............................................................................................190
8.6 Implications for Theory and Practice ...................................................192
8.7 Conclusions............................................................................................193
References.......................................................................................................194
8.1 introduction
In this chapter, we discuss sustainability-related issues connected to the
increasing transport of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially the problem of
assessing the external costs of their transport, which are not included in the
retail price, and how their internalization would affect existing material fows
in the case of Slovenia.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, and
regular consumption is widely supported by public health programs (e.g., the
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-10 179

“fve-a-day” campaign in the United Kingdom). Yet, such goods are highly
perishable, often requiring special transport conditions, particularly when
transported over long distances (e.g., specialized refrigerated vehicles and
packaging), adding to the “externalities” issue.
The increase in the transport sector in the last decades is connected with
a rise in negative impacts on the environment and society. For example, this
refers to air pollution, noise, traffc accidents, soil and water pollution, and
global warming. Mostly, these impacts are not refected in the price of trans-
port, but moving transport towards better sustainability is a long-term ten-
dency. More sustainable use of transport is a crucial policy issue at a national,
international and global level.
In the presented research, we were interested in analyzing the Slovenian
market for fresh fruit and vegetables by looking at the sustainability of freight
transport. Thus, the research question we followed was whether all fruit-and-
vegetable transport that occurs internationally and nationally is actually justi-
fed and necessary from the point of view of sustainable development, and
to estimate how the external costs of freight-tranpsort internalization would
refect on total transport costs.
In the following subchapters, we frst present a critical review of exist-
ing literature, followed by a description of the methods used. In the results
subchapter, we present the obtained results on a systematic literature review
of the external cost of transport on selected routes and their simulation into
retail-crop prices. We conclude the chapter with a discussion of the obtained
results and suggestions of some possible implications for theory and practice.
8.2 A Critical Review of the Literature

In the last few decades, the transport sector has grown dramatically, with the
greatest increase observed in transport by road (the European Commission,
2012). This has contributed to an increased negative impact on the environ-
ment and on society, including air pollution, climate change, noise, accidents,
congestion, soil and water pollution, effects on nature and the landscape,
effects of upstream and downstream processes (Maibach et al., 2008), and
infrastructural impacts on the environment (Beuthe et al., 2002; Forkenbrock,
1999; Marquez Diaz, 2009; Piecyk & McKinnon, 2007). These impacts are
generally known as negative externalities and represent external costs neither
paid by the consumer nor the transport service provider, but are imposed on
the environment and society. According to Essen et al. (2020), road transport
Sustainable Transport in the Fruit & Vegetable Supply Chain ◾ 181
contributes to up to 83% of all external costs when compared to other trans-

port modes.
If the food production of a country is not suffcient, the country must
import the difference (the defcit). We are talking about the self-suffciency
of a country, where the level of self-suffciency refects the extent to which
domestic production is suffcient for domestic consumption. Plut (2012)
emphasizes that the production of food for one’s own needs is even more
strategically and existentially important if the country is not a geopolitical
force, which is the case for Slovenia. Perpar and Udovč (2010) also add that
a country’s own food production is an important strategic issue. Slovenia is
characterized by a low level of self-suffciency in food and is a net importer
of food. According to reports, this share is expected to be around 50%
(Plut, 2012; Pestotnik, 2014). In the case of vegetables, it was 36.5% in 2011
and 34% in 2012 (SURS, 2015). As every import, as we have already men-
tioned, is related to transport, the country, consequently, also has a great
need for transport. To achieve sustainable development, there is increasing
emphasis on local food chains. It is food that is grown, processed, distrib-
uted, and consumed locally, but there are several different defnitions of
the locality.
Borec (2015) states that local food is freshly grown food in a local environ-
ment, which travels the shortest time from the feld to the plate, and consid-
ers a local food chain as a market, which is up to 60 kilometers (km) away
from the local environment. A similar defnition is given by Nash (2003, in
Thomson et al., 2006), who considers local food to be one that grows 64.4
km in diameter from the place of production. A longer distance of 161 km is
suggested by Smith (2003, in Thomson et al., 2006), who considers that “local”
means delivery on the same day the crop was harvested. Isensee (2003, in
Thomson et al., 2006) proposes a more precise division, namely that the dis-
tance of up to 1.6 km defnes the neighborhood, 1.6 to 16.1 km defnes the
city, 17.7 to 40.2 km defnes the local area, and 41.8 to 161 or 241.4 km defnes
the region. Due to the geographical size of Slovenia and the mentioned defni-
tions, we understood the distance of up to approximately 50 km as the local
food chain, approximately 50.1 to 150 km as the regional food chain, and over
150.1 km as the national food chain.
At present, external costs of freight are not fully refected in the market
price of produce. Setting the right price for services (i.e., a full-cost price)
is very important in freight transportation, as price setting has always been
considered an important area of the marketing mix (Podnar et al., 2007).
As Grewal and Compeau (1999) point out, the fusion of price as a “strategic
marketing variable” and a “public welfare concern” is long overdue in the

market. To make freight transport better aligned with the principle of sustain-
ability, “full-cost pricing” would be required, through the internalization of
“external costs” (i.e., incorporating the negative external effects).
In recent years, interest in researching this internalization has increased
substantially (e.g., Baum et al., 2008; Márquez & Cantillo, 2013; Christidis &
Brons, 2010; Janic, 2007; Janic, 2008; Macharis et al., 2010; Maibach et al., 2008;
Marquez Diaz, 2009), but the method of calculating external costs has been
very complex and remains incomplete (Nash, 2003; Quinet, 2004; Schreyer et
al., 2004). Thus, we would like to emphasize that the money-market regula-
tions through transport policy are not the only policy instruments available
and, here, we defend the position that transport could also be made more
sustainable using social marketing (Bonča et al., 2017).
In the presented research, we were interested in analyzing the Slovenian
market for fresh fruit and vegetables by looking at the sustainability of freight
transport. Recognizing the normative dimension that is inherent in the con-
cept of sustainability, we aim to refect on the potential benefts that sustain-
able transportation could make on the Slovenian fresh- fruit and -vegetable
market, including its freight-transport use.
The distance between the manufacturer (or grower) and the points of sale,
where the goods are available to fnal consumers, is extremely important,
as external costs arise due to transport along these routes, which can vary
greatly, for example in terms of the length, the mode of transport (road, rail,
ship, air), the type of transport (e.g., van, small truck, semitrailer truck, trailer
truck, train, ship), the driving time (e.g., during rush hour, at night) and the
area (e.g., in the city, in the countryside). Most of these costs are currently not
covered by existing market prices for goods and services. The question arises
as to whether all this transport is actually justifed and necessary from the
point of view of sustainable development. We mention the fact that in certain
cases the same type of goods is imported and exported (hereinafter exports
also mean the intra-EU supply). Thus, Norberg-Hodge et al. (2013) report
that most countries import and export a worryingly similar amount of the
same types of goods. They give the example of the United States of America
(USA), which annually exports a similar quantity of potatoes (365,350 tons
of imports, 324,544 tons of exports), beef (953,142 tons of imports, 899,834
tons of exports), and coffee (41,209 tons of imports, 42,277 tons of exports)
as it imports. The situation is similar in the United Kingdom in the case of
milk (114,000 tons of imports, 119,000 tons of exports), eggs (21,979 tons of
imports, 30,604 tons of exports), and pork (158,294 tons of imports, 258,558
tons of exports). As a result, more transport is performed than would be

required given the production and consumption of each country.
There is a noticeable trend towards setting fairer and more effcient prices for
goods and services, i.e., those that will refect the external effects of transport
on the environment and society. Here, fairness represents the improvement of
cost distribution through ethical considerations (European commission, 1996;
Christidis & Brons, 2010), and effciency encompasses the economic views of
pricing to maximize economic prosperity, including direct and indirect ben-
efts for both transport users and for society as a whole (Proost et al., 2002;
Christidis & Brons, 2010). On the one hand, the existing evaluation of freight
transport only covers internal costs, which include labor costs, the depreciation
of vehicles, tires, insurance, tolls, fnancing, administrative and sales costs, as
well as fuel costs (Forkenbrock, 1998; Forkenbrock, 2001; Beuthe et al., 2002;
Hočevar, 2008). Some internal costs, such as the cost of fuel, already include
an environmental tax, which is relatively negligible in terms of the extent of
the negative consequences that transport has on the environment (Fuel price
movements, 2011; CURS, 2015). As transport also has external costs, and with
the current policy and current legislation the transport user does not cover
these, or only partially covers them through environmental duties and taxes,
it is assumed that there are unrealistic prices of goods and services on the
market. Christidis and Brons (2010) argue that the market price of a good that
requires transportation on its way from the manufacturer to the point of sale
(e.g., a supermarket) is underestimated. The latter affects everyone involved
in this chain (e.g., producers, consumers, traders, carriers). However, there
may also be an unequal position of local goods compared to goods of more
distant origin. Setting the right price, the full-cost price, including the external
costs of transport, is becoming increasingly important in the transport sector.
To better align freight transport with the concept of sustainable development,
external-cost internalization of transport would be needed (the inclusion of
monetary externalities in the price of transport).
Thus, our research problem stems from the fact that most external costs
of transport are neither covered by existing market-transport prices nor by
fresh- fruit and -vegetable prices, which may lead to market ineffciencies and
possible wrong purchasing decisions by consumers, as well as wrong deci-
sions by other operators in the supply chain (e.g., growers, freight forwarders,
carriers, distributors, traders, importers, exporters). Because the selling or pur-
chase prices of crops do not refect the external costs of transport, this may
also have consequences in the unequal position of local crops compared to
crops of distant origin. The consequence can also be refected in the deviation
of real transport needs from current ones and in the volume of imports and
exports. Since it would be possible, to achieve the lowest possible external
effects and external costs of transport or by internalizing them, to infuence
the volume of transport, imports, and the food self-suffciency of countries
and, thus, approach the concept of sustainable development, we wanted to
gain a broader insight into the feld of external costs of transport and assess
pricing through the internalization of external costs of transport as an impor-
tant indicator of sustainable transport (Litman, 2021).
This study focused on the freight transport of fresh fruits and vegetables
and the choice of Slovenia as a case for further analysis. The aim was to
appraise pricing through the internalization of external costs of transport as
an important indicator of sustainability, assess the market situation, and pres-
ent possible solutions for better sustainability. For our empirical case, we
selected four typical Slovenian products (i.e., apples, pears, carrots, cabbage).
On this basis, secondary data collection and analysis of material-fow accounts
were used to analyze self-suffciency, import and export features, and trans-
port needs from 2005 to 2012, followed by a sustainability analysis of freight
transport. Material-fow accounts included national transport accounts, where
we derived information from the data about the quantity of current and real
transport needs. Sustainable transport was understood as transport that is
provided to satisfy current people’s needs in the frame of consumption suf-
fciency without causing any effects on the environment, enabling a better life
for people in time and location.
8.3 Research Methods

The use of the scientifc method of the systematic literature review is relatively
new in the feld of transport and, as far as we know, has not yet been carried
out for the purpose of researching calculations of the external costs of freight.
The same applies to the external costs of the transport sector. Despite the
fact that the method dates back to the 90s, it has long only been applied in
the feld of medicine, where it was originally developed and where the most
signifcant advances in the method have been made (Davis et al., 1995; Cook
et al., 1997; Booth, 2001; Hemsley-Brown in Oplatka, 2006). Only a few years
ago, however, its applicability was also accepted in physical sciences (Dybå
& Dingsøyr, 2008; Walia & Carver, 2009) and social sciences (Petticrew &
Roberts, 2006). In the latter, examples are known from the felds of marketing
(Aspelund et al., 2007; Birnik & Bowman, 2007), tourism (Morad, 2007; Gjerald
& Øgaard, 2008; Zhang et al., 2009), and strategic innovation (Edwards et al.,
2004; Knoben & Oerlemans, 2006; Bartels & Reinders, 2010). Such a review of
literature has been used in the feld of transport, but only in the last few years
(Fraser & Lock, 2011; Ginieis et al., 2011; Perego et al., 2011; Ginieis et al., 2012;
Thomas, 2012; Mathisen & Hanssen, 2014). The literature found addresses
other topics such as air transport (Ginieis et al., 2011, 2012), intermodal freight
transport (Mathisen & Hanssen, 2014), logistics and freight transport (Perego
et al., 2011), traffc safety (see Thomas, 2012), promoting active transport on
the way to school (Chillón et al., 2011), and the active transport of children
(see Pont et al., 2009), none of which addresses all forms of transport.
First, we surveyed selected scientifc literature and other reports (N = 32),
where a systematic literature review was undertaken. Totally, our sample
included a review with 404 variables. Here, a comprehensive dataset of exter-
nal costs for all transport modes was collected, allowing for detailed insight
into this feld. We also searched data about external costs per vehicle kilome-
ter for a trailer truck with a payload of 24 tons.
When analyzing material-fow accounts, we obtained long-term data, from
the Statistical Offce of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS), concerning the pro-
duction and consumption of selected produce, along with data about vol-
umes imported and exported. The quantities of products being exported and
imported were also the quantities transported to and from the country. We
assumed that at a national level, only transport, which is really necessary,
should be carried out, i.e., the volume of net import or export of produce. This
we called the sustainability paradigm. As such, they represented “current trans-
port needs” (export plus import). Further, we compared this data with “real
transport needs,” which is understood as a country’s net import or net export
and represents the physical trade balance. In this case, the real transport needs
of the country are suffcient. Also, the external impacts and external costs of
transport are the lowest and the difference between current and real transport
needs represents any impacts on the environment. Every import and transport
which is not a consequence of the defcit of the produce in the country and
every export and transport which is not the consequence of the surplus was
considered an unsustainable activity.
Building from the mentioned secondary source, we also obtained informa-
tion concerning the place of origin of the crops (from 2005 to 2012).
In order to fnd out the product origin, the prices of domestic and non-
domestic produce, retailer practices, and consumer consciousness on transport
impacts, we conducted a primary data survey. It represented data collection in
retail (N = 8) and two questionnaires where we interviewed the retailers (N =
2) only using open types of questions, and consumers, (N = 135) where ques-
tions were mostly of the closed type (only three were open). This informa-
tion formed the basis for simulating the internalization of external costs into
market prices of products that were, according to the data collection in retail,
delivered to Ljubljana (this revealed the produce origin). The simulation was
conducted for 27 selected cases of transport of produce on nineteen different
transport routes (i.e., two inside of Slovenia, seventeen international) with the
fnal destination being Ljubljana (confrmed also from retailer practice). For
these routes, we calculated the distances in kilometers using a professional
route planner: PTV Map&Guide internet (2013). Throughout the calculation
to internalize the external costs of transport we considered the principles
of economics (e.g., determining purchase produce prices from their retail
prices, anticipating infation in the product prices, and taking into account the
exchange rate for the currency conversion).
Finally, a SWOT analysis was carried out to analyze transport with internal-
ized external costs. Here, we considered sustainability indicators (economic,
environmental, and social) and a measurement scale. Based on the princi-
ples of a perfectly competitive market with fexible supply and demand, and
assuming that taxes and charges (representing the external costs of transport)
are imposed on the users of transport, which, in the long term, results in
lower demand and also a lower supply size, we found out, through the mea-
surement scale, in which direction sustainability indicators moved. We com-
pared the market situation when prices included internalized external costs
with the current situation when these costs were not internalized. With the
aim to set possible strategies for the better sustainability of transport we used
the TOWS matrix.
8.4 Results
To internalize external costs into market prices of produce, we selected (based
on calculations derived from reviewing 32 literature sources) 27 transport
routes which were extracted based on the collected data in retail. We pre-
sumed Ljubljana to be the target destination and took into account a refrig-
erated trailer truck, as it is, according to the retailers’ most-used practices,
with a net cargo weight of twenty or sixteen tons. These data were part of
our calculations, showing both scenarios for different weights. We found that
marginal external costs are 0.0862 EUR/km in the case of twenty tons being
transported, and 0.0820 EUR/km in the case of sixteen tons (i.e., 3.39 EUR/ton
for twenty tons and 4.06 EUR/ton for sixteen tons of net cargo weight). The
signifcant result is in the difference in external costs per kg in the case of dif-
ferent net cargo weights, where this cost per kg is higher for bigger tonnage.
External costs per km are lower in the case of lower cargo weight (i.e., sixteen
tons). When we compared differences between market prices, obtained from
our primary data survey, and prices, to which we internalized external costs,
it resulted in a price rise and was in line with our preliminary expectations.
On average, this increase is negligible because it is 0.46 % for twenty tons of
net cargo weight and 0.54 % if the net cargo weight is sixteen tons.
A systematic review found that existing studies address the feld of cal-
culations of external costs differently, which is refected in the diversity
of coverage of externalities and types of costs, their cost-component and
monetary-valuation method, and their focus on different areas, means of
transport, and time. Existing studies mostly (i.e., on average 87.5%) address
the same types of externalities (i.e., air pollution, accidents, noise, congestion,
and climate change), but also other effects (i.e., on nature and the landscape,
on ecosystems and biodiversity, effects due to urban fragmentation and con-
gestion, the impact on the infrastructure, the impact on sensitive areas and
the pollution of soil and water), but they omitted addressing other areas
directly, such as ecosystem services. The greatest diversity is characteristic of
cost components, which have many different variables by type of cost (e.g.,
nineteen for accidents, seventeen for congestion, sixteen for air pollution, ten
for external costs of other externalities, and nine for the external costs of
construction and decommissioning of transport system elements). Regarding
the monetary-valuation method, we found a similar situation, as they are also
characterized by different possible evaluation methods, refected in the exis-
tence of a large number of possible variables (e.g., eighteen for air pollution,
thirteen for noise, six for external costs of disasters and six for external costs
of climate change). However, we found that there is a difference between the
sets of possible cost-component and monetary-valuation-method variables,
which are less numerous for the latter. As a result, there is greater diversity
in the calculation of external costs originating from the cost-component than
that derived from the monetary-valuation method.
By simulating the internalization of external costs of transport into crop
prices, we found that the impact on crop prices is negligible (on average
increasing by 0.46% for twenty tons and 0.54% for sixteen tons of net cargo
weight) and is signifcantly smaller than initially expected.
We found that the underestimation of the prices of imported products (on
average 0.55%) is higher than that of Slovenian products (on average 0.06%)
and that it is not true that the underestimation of imported products always
increases with the distance of the origin of products. If external costs are not
internalized in the price of crops, on average, the prices of imported products
on the Slovenian market are underestimated for shorter transport lengths, but
not in all cases, and, on average, it is higher for longer and the highest for the
longest journeys. It makes almost no difference whether twenty or sixteen tons
of crops are transported. In general, however, this underestimation is greater
in the case of transport lengths from 926 km onwards (the only exception is
the route with a length of 389 km). In connection with the proportionality
between the increase in the length of the journey and the underestimation
of the prices of imported products on the Slovenian market, we proved that
proportionality does not exist in all cases.
The secondary data collected about the volumes of apples, pears, carrots,
and cabbage produced, consumed, imported, and exported from 2005 to
2012 suggest that Slovenia had a surplus in the production of apples, while
the other three crops had a defcit. The average self-suffciency in this period
was 112.49% for apples, 87.88% for cabbage, 75.37% for pears, and 35.75% for
carrots. The data indicate that self-suffciency for all crops decreased during
that period.
Within each year all produce was exported and imported, but, in the whole
period, the export of apples was 81.8% higher than the import. In all other cases,
the imports exceeded export (i.e., pears 203.2%, carrots 513.21%, and cabbage
2,685.73% higher import vs. export). The highest level of export vs. import was for
apples in 2007 and the lowest was for cabbage in 2005, 2006 and 2009.
As a consequence of export and import, the total transported quantity
of produce (export plus import) was 451,918 tons, which represents “current
transport needs”—while the physical trade balance showed that net import
was 184,692 tons of produce, which would have needed to be transported, i.e.,
“real transport needs.” Thus, during the whole period, 59.13% of the transport
was used “unnecessarily.” The transportation usage for apples was 244.71%
higher than necessary, followed by the transport of pears at an excess of
98.42%, carrots at 38.97%, and cabbage at 7.45%.
The highest transport need was for apples, because of high export and also
high import. It is interesting to note that the imported quantity was more than
half (55.01%) of that exported for the same period.
Imports of the four selected crops come mainly from neighboring countries
(Italy, Austria, Croatia, etc.), while a minority come from more distant loca-
tions (the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Israel, etc.). However, 3,862
tons (1.7% of total imports) were imported from distant countries including
Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Argentina, and Chile. It is of interest to note that,
according to the data obtained from SORS, Slovenia exported the same types
of products to some countries (Austria, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Belgium,
the Czech Republic, Germany, Egypt, Spain, France, Croatia, Hungary, Italy,
Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia,
and Turkey) as are imported from those same countries. From 2005 to 2012,
the share of Slovenia’s net imports of selected crops from those countries was
18 % of total imports (i.e., imported 223,031 tons, exported 182,867 tons). This
rate would be even higher if we were not to include the “surpluses,” such as
with apples, in this case.
Primary data gathered concerning 145 items (78 cases of apples, 21 cases of
pears, twenty cases of carrots, and 26 cases of cabbage) in eight retail markets
confrm the place of origin from SORS data. This data indicated that apples had
Slovenian origin in 60.26% of cases while in 39.74% they were from countries of
the European Union (EU). In 42.31% of cases, cabbage was from Slovenia, while
57.7% was from EU countries. On the other hand, pears were from Slovenia in
only 19.05% of cases, while 61.91% were from EU countries. In 19.05% of cases,
pears were from very distant countries, i.e., from the Republic of South Africa
and China. Also, carrots are mostly imported from other EU countries with only
10% being of Slovenian origin. Most of these crops were produced by conven-
tional agriculture, while about one-third were organically produced.
Imported produce was, in all cases, more expensive than Slovenian pro-
duce, except for organic pears (22.84% cheaper). On average, the selected
imported crops were 38.19% more expensive than domestic crops. The price
for all produce was, on average, lower for produce from shorter distances and
higher from the most distant locations. On average, it was 0.86 EUR for pro-
duce transported for distances of 128 to 393 km, 1.64 EUR on routes from 394
to 493 km, and 2.13 EUR per kg on routes from 926 to 1,275 km.
The data collected with the questionnaire administered to retailers con-
frmed that fresh fruit and vegetables are transported by road in refriger-
ated truck trailers, mostly with a maximum payload of 24 tons (i.e., sixteen
or twenty tons of net weight). Respondents stated that they set cost prices
during negotiations, often depending on weather conditions, which varied
daily. They also affrmed that there was no difference between cost prices for
domestic and non-domestic produce, and the same was indicated by retail
prices, which they said depended on cost prices. The results show that retail-
ers purchased crops in Slovenia frst, but that in cases of shortage they had to
buy from abroad. The respondents stated that the share of the transport price
in the cost price depended on the kilometers traveled, increasing for more
distant locations. In general, retailers chose the place of purchase according

to the principle of least distance, seeking the shortest and quickest path from
producer to the fnal consumer.
8.5 Discussion
A broader view of the results of the considered cost component and mone-
tary-valuation method revealed an important fnding, namely that the stud-
ies citing these items go in two directions. Thus, some mostly cover a single
variable (Christidis & Brons, 2010), while others mostly combine variables
(OECD, 1998; Eriksen, 2000; Beuthe et al., 2002; Nash, 2003; Maibach et al.,
2008), where the combinations are used more often in the cost component
(on average in 61.94% of sources) than in the monetary-valuation method
(on average 71.96% of sources deal with an individual variable). Among the
twelve sources used for the internalization of external costs, both individ-
ual variables and combinations of variables are used the most, but the total
cost component is dominated by several combinations of variables (i.e., 80%
of sources), and for the monetary-valuation method individual variables (i.e.,
70%), which differs from the previously mentioned data for all 32 sources to a
greater extent, only in the case of the cost component. Since these are costs,
the principle of “more is better than less” could be applied, as the transport
user should cover them in full. In this case, it would be useful to capture as
many variables as possible, i.e., combinations. However, this fnding raises a
new question, namely, which of the specifc variables or combinations of the
cost-component and monetary-valuation-method variables should be covered
to refect the costs actually incurred in transport and be fully covered by the
transport user. For example, among existing studies, Maibach et al. (2008) cite
only the best practice, which does not provide an answer about the best set of
variables or combinations of variables of the cost component and monetary-
valuation method.
Combining the fndings, we can confrm that the existing external costs of
transport calculations indicate the complexity as well as the shortcomings of
the area. While other studies have already mentioned the complexity of the
calculation of external costs and point to certain shortcomings (e.g., Baum et
al., 2008; Jakob et al., 2006), in our study, we have systematically presented
the individual external costs of transport items with their variables. For exam-
ple, for all sources, we presented their geographical coverage for which exter-
nal costs of transport calculations have already been made, thus identifying
which areas remain geographically uncovered and which would be needed to

implement external-cost internalization more accurately for selected transport-
route cases. We also found that to better integrate the external costs of trans-
port into crop prices, we would need data for a refrigerator truck. We have
demonstrated that studies citing items on external-cost calculations go in two
directions (i.e., the frst covers an individual variable, the second covers com-
binations of variables), with 80% of the sources included in the internalization
covering combinations of cost-component variables. The latter has a positive
connotation if we consider the “more is better than less” principle, as more
costs are covered in the internalization than in the case of the inclusion of
a single variable, which may result in better internalization. Precisely due to
shortcomings in the feld of the external costs of transport calculations, the
implementation of the internalization of external costs of transport was made
diffcult and we, therefore, had to apply the previously mentioned adjust-
ments. For this reason, our internalization of external costs of transport into
prices of selected products that were available on the shelves of Slovenian
retailers in Ljubljana (i.e., 27 examples of crops from nineteen different places
of dispatch) does not refect the correct actual costs caused by transport to the
environment and society but covers the best external-cost data offered by the
existing literature and adapted to the needs of our empirical case.
As mentioned, our analysis shows that the underestimation of prices of
imported products is higher than that of Slovenian products, and it is not
true that the underestimation of imported products always increases with the
distance of the origin of products. Similar fndings were made in the study
by Christidis and Brons (2010), who argue that the impact on product prices
is negligible and that in situations where it is a low-cost product with high
weight or when the load has a characteristic of low weight, but large vol-
ume, the price change is greater. Our result is very similar to the fndings of
Christidis and Brons (2010) (the average change in the price of the fnal prod-
uct is a maximum of 0.5%), but it should be noted that this is due to every-
thing we included in the calculation, namely the included external costs of
transport based on the existing sources considered, the infation rate and the
exchange rate. However, the biggest impact has the included external costs
of transport. As already mentioned, we found that these indicate complex-
ity and shortcomings. Thus, the external-cost calculations and the resulting
adjustments that we had to make (e.g., calculations for a truck and not for a
truck with a refrigerator, the use of a nearby corridor instead of a precisely
selected transport route) have the greatest impact on our result. Despite the
obtained negligible infuence of the external costs of transport on the price
of crops, we found a difference between situations where the truck is loaded

with twenty or sixteen tons of crops (the change in price for the case of six-
teen tons is higher in all cases compared to the twenty-ton net weight). This
difference stems from the fact that the same external costs were considered in
both cases, as the existing literature does not provide separate external costs
of transport for different truckloads and, therefore, in the case of transport-
ing sixteen tons of crops, the same external costs are distributed at a lower
weight than in the case of twenty tons. The latter is also refected in the value
of external costs/km of transport performed.

Based on a SWOT analysis of transport with internalized external costs and
a TOWS matrix, we found that quite a few possible strategies relate to greater
support for the local economy, which, in the case of Slovenia, can include
supplies at a local, regional, and national level. To cover the external costs of
transport, the principle of “more is better than less” would apply, which, with
an understanding in the opposite direction, means that these costs should be
avoided as much as possible. Priority supplies at a local level would make a
positive contribution to achieving this and, in the event of a shortage (e.g., of
goods), they would be extended to increasingly remote locations. This would
require the additional awareness of consumers or transport users, where social
marketing campaigns could play an important role, both at a state level and in
local communities, as individual orientation would be crucial.
Greater sustainability of transport could also be achieved using other forms
of transport of fresh fruit and vegetables, which we have not considered
because in Slovenia road transport is mostly used for these purposes. An alter-
native could be rail transport, but as these are perishable goods, intermodal
transport might be a better option. Of course, all the conditions required for
the transport of fresh produce should be given. The feld of fnding alternative
modes of transport is certainly interesting for further consideration.
The contribution of our analysis is in the rigorous review of the calculation
of external costs of freight transport, which was done through the scientifc
method of systematic literature review and has not been used before in such
depth as here. Our review shows how current literature deals with individual
variables with a good level of detail and reveals, in this way, the imperfec-
tions of this feld. There is a reason why the internalization of external costs
of transport is diffcult and could not refect exact real costs, which are a
consequence of transport on the environment and society. We prove that

imperfections result in using the current data of external costs, which refer
to a lack of geographical coverage, uncertainties about included taxes and
charges, an inaccuracy of the transport mode, and obsolescence. Our con-
tribution is also in fnding that studies that address cost components and the
method of monetary validation go in two directions, and that this is an area
that should be improved with clearly defned guidelines about the information
on which individual variables or combinations of variables would best refect
the real ecosystem services of transport. For the Slovenian case, we showed
that transport done as a consequence of deliveries of fresh produce from
other countries to Slovenia is unsustainable when considering the external
effects and external costs. It means that this transport does not satisfy people’s
needs in the frame of consumption suffciency (it is a surplus), which causes
effects (negative) on the environment and does not enable a better life for
people. Additionally, it means that this transport does not justify the principles
of sustainable development. However, the internalization of external costs
would lead to greater harmonization of prices of domestic products with the
prices of products from the more distant origin and could also beneft towards
better sustainable development.
8.7 Conclusions
The study results in information that Slovenia had a surplus only in the case
of apples, but all other products had to be imported in the period from 2005
to 2012. Despite this, the country exported and imported all four selected pro-
duce and, if we compare import and export quantity for all products together,
the quantity is nearly the same. Additionally, there were cases when Slovenia
exported some types of products to countries from which these same types
were also imported. Consequently, the country had higher transport needs
than it would have with consideration of the defnition of transport sustain-
ability. Further, we studied whether transport in such a scope as it was cur-
rently would be necessary and justifed if the concept of the sustainability of
transport were considered. We concluded that the transport of produce had a
potential for sustainable development and reducing high imports on account
of lower export.
We discussed the use of a systematic literature review and obtained data.
The study found that current calculations of external costs indicate complex-
ity and imperfections. This calls for further research with a focus on certain
specifcs (e.g., micro locations, technical features of the vehicles). Retrieving

data from the internalization of external costs, we confrmed the underesti-
mation of imported-produce prices in the case when external costs are not
internalized in comparison with Slovenian produce, but the underestimation
does not rise proportionately according to the distance of the origin. We also
confrmed that the transport of fresh fruits and vegetables from other coun-
tries to Slovenia is unsustainable when external effects and costs are taken
into account. Firstly, transport routes in Slovenia are linked with lower exter-
nal effects and costs in comparison with transport routes from abroad where
mentioned effects and costs are higher. Secondly, we fgured out that Slovenia
also had unnecessary transport, and not just one which originates in net
import or net export. However, we confrmed that the transport of produce in
the case of import to Slovenia is unsustainable, but internalization could work
towards better sustainable development.
The main limitation to our research we see in the selected data-collection
method for the external-cost calculation is the systematic literature review,
which is, despite the rigorous review of the existing calculation of external
costs of freight transport, limited to the existing and available research reports
and data. The existing studies do mostly address the same types of externali-
ties (i.e., air pollution, accidents, noise, congestion, and climate change), and
also some other effects (i.e., on nature and the landscape, on ecosystems and
biodiversity, effects due to urban fragmentation and congestion, the impact
on the infrastructure, the impact on sensitive areas and the pollution of soil
and water), but more complex areas, such as ecosystem services, were mostly
omitted, so our calculated marginal external costs are undervalued. This lim-
ited scope of external-cost calculation we see as the major topic for future
research, whereby we are also aware of its complexity and interdisciplinarity,
so the main research strategy for fnding answers to these issues should be the
development of the respective interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
projects.
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Chapter 9
the Application of the

Concept of Sharing economy
in the Supply Chain
Helga Pavlić Skender, Zoran Ježić,
Contents
9.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................202
9.2 Theoretical Background ........................................................................202
9.2.1 The Relationship Between the Sharing Economy, and
Economic Growth and Development ...................................... 204
9.2.2 The Relationship Between the Sharing Economy and the
Supply-Chain Industry .............................................................. 206
9.3 Materials and Methods...........................................................................207
DHL International GmbH (Product: DHL Spaces Platform)................208
Uber Technologies Inc. (Product: Uber Freight Platform)...................208
Amazon (Product: Amazon Flex Platform)...........................................209
9.4 Research Results and Discussion ..........................................................209
Warehouse Sharing—DHL Spaces Case Study .....................................209
Transport Sharing—Uber Freight and Amazon Flex Case Studies......210
9.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................212
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................214
References.......................................................................................................214
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-11 201

9.1 introduction
The ongoing drive to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and changing
customer preferences to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly are
putting a lot of pressure on the supply-chain industry. Supply-chain business
is constantly looking for innovative methods and practices to improve busi-
ness processes in a sustainable way. In order to be sustainable, supply chains
need to simultaneously meet economic, social, and environmental aspects in
the sense of the concept of the triple bottom line (Elkington, 1998 in Ocicka &
Wieteska, 2017). The use of new technologies, especially network technologies
in supply-chain business, can help companies meet these requirements. What
new technologies can also do is provide the opportunity to work according to
the concept of the “sharing economy.” This concept is not new, but as technol-
ogy develops, the sharing-economy model is spreading rapidly across a grow-
ing number of industries and markets worldwide (Owyang et al., 2013). The
sharing economy can be benefcial for companies involved in supply chains as
it allows them to share costly physical assets such as machinery, vehicles, and
warehouses, and share information more easily.
The aim of this chapter is therefore to examine the concept of the sharing
economy and its impact on economic growth and development with a particu-
lar focus on the supply-chain industry. In addition, this research evaluates the
challenges and opportunities of implementing the sharing economy into supply-
chain business operations through a three-case-study example of transport- and
warehouse-sharing business practices. Research on the sharing economy is still in
its infancy (Lee et al., 2018), and there is a gap in the literature regarding the rela-
tionship between sharing-economy practices and supply-chain business. These
issues are particularly important in the era of challenges related to the COVID-19
pandemic, the growth of e-commerce, and the desire to reduce greenhouse-gas
(GHG) emissions. The fndings of the research can serve as a recommendation
for companies involved in supply chains, and policy makers.
The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the
theoretical background of the sharing-economy concept. Section 3 describes
the materials and methods used in the analysis, while Section 4 presents the
results of the case study. Section 5 concludes the chapter.
9.2 theoretical Background

The sharing economy has gained attention among academics and busi-
nesses over the past decade, largely because consumers began to adapt a
new model of consumption offered by a small digital company using only a
Applying the Concept of Sharing Economy in the Supply Chain ◾ 203
mobile interface. Because of this, the concept of the sharing economy has the
potential to grow and transform many businesses, including the supply-chain
industry. Kathan et al. (2016) state that the sharing economy is characterized
by “non-ownership, temporary access and redistribution of material goods or
less tangible assets such as money, space or time.” Miller (2016) agrees that
the term “sharing economy” can also be described as collaborative economy
or access-based economy and that it is radically affecting and changing the
economy. The key difference between the sharing economy and the tradi-
tional business approach is that the main idea behind the sharing economy
is to be able to “use something” rather than to “own something.” The main
hypothesis behind this is that in many cases (though not all) people are inter-
ested in using or accessing products or services and not necessarily in owning
them (Bonciu & Balgar, 2016, p. 40).
The term “sharing economy” is often used together with many other terms
such as “platform economy,” “gig economy,” “collaborative economy,” and
“on-demand economy” (United Nations, 2020). Sharing economy includes the
buying and selling of temporary access to goods or services, usually medi-
ated through a digital platform. According to Hunt (2018), sharing economy
is becoming an important source of revenue in global economy and is led by
companies like Uber and Airbnb.
The characteristics of the sharing economy are illustrated in Table 9.1. In addi-
tion to the characteristics of the sharing economy already mentioned, Table 9.1
also shows the characteristic of shifting the typical organizational and hierarchi-
cal structure of the company, that is, economy and better use of underutilized
assets. These characteristics make sharing economy a more sustainable business
model. However, although the United Nations “equally weight” all the character-
istics, Table 9.1 refects that some characteristics can be entirely attributed to the
sharing-economy concept (column 1) while other characteristics cannot entirely
be attributed to the sharing economy (column 2), as for example the characteristic
“better use of under-utilized assets” is not always the case in sharing economy.
Table 9.1 Sharing-Economy Characteristics.

(1) (2)
Flattened organizational hierarchies—workers Digital platforms matching supply
receive instructions from algorithm and demand at a large scale
Temporary access through renting or borrowing Better use of under-utilized assets
Peer-to-peer exchange, among strangers
Source: Author’s work based on United Nations, 2020.
9.2.1 The Relationship Between the Sharing Economy,

and Economic Growth and Development
According to Tabcum Jr. (2019), the sharing economy represents an eco-
nomic system in which businesses and workers rent or share assets and
services instead of owning them. For the “sharing system” to work, tech-
nology is needed. Technology, among other factors, is also responsive to
economic development (Ježić, 2015). Technology serves as a way for busi-
nesses to connect to the digital world to share or rent their assets. Indeed,
smartphones and tablets, combined with networking technology, apps, and
social media, are enabling the sharing economy and making it popular in
the business world (Benkler, 2006). Companies that operate on the prin-
ciple of “sharing” rely on a network-based business model, using software
and algorithms to manage the customer experience around a particular
object (DHL, 2017).
However, in the literature and in public discourse, there is debate about the
positive and negative effects of the sharing economy on the economy and its
development as a whole. Bachnik (2016) and Nica and Potcovaru (2015) agree
that the sharing economy drives sustainable development from an environ-
mental, social, and economic perspective. Sharing-economy companies are
growing exponentially (Avital et al., 2015) and are transforming the economy,
although the positive or negative impact is yet to be seen. According to Bonciu
and Balgar (2016), the sharing approach nowadays encompasses almost all
types of economic activities (R&D, product design, production, ICT, market-
ing, consumption) and can ensure a better standard of living as it reduces the
cost of living and labor while reducing the consumption-oriented lifestyle.
The results of the fxed-effects regressions conducted by Dabbous and Tarhini
(2021) suggest that the positive effects of the sharing economy on sustainable
economic development and energy effciency exist and have the potential to
stimulate them further (Dabbous & Tarhini, 2021). Table 9.2 presents possible
positive and negative impacts of the sharing economy from environmental,
social, and economic perspectives.
The United Nations has created seventeen sustainable-development goals
(SDGs) as a tool and guide for countries and individuals. Boar et al. (2020)
conducted a content analysis of 74 articles from the Web of Science database
on the relationships between the sharing economy, sustainability, and the
SDGs, and their results show that the SDGs can be achieved through the
implementation of the sharing economy (Boar et al., 2020).
table 9.2 Possible impacts of Sharing economy.

Negative Impacts Positive Impacts
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
◾ encourage unsustainable ◾ encourage sharing arrangements that
consumption patterns, such as less reduces environmental footprints
public transportation use
ECONOMIC EFFECTS
◾ worsen economic security by ◾ better use of assets
entrenching people in uncertainty ◾ improve economic security by
◾ low-pay employment with limited rights providing extra income sources
SOCIAL EFFECTS
◾ commodify everyday life and ◾ rebuild trust “one review at a time”
undermine genuine forms of sharing
Source: Author’s work based on United Nations (2020).
Avital et al. (2015) argue that companies that enable the sharing economy
through digital platforms face two problems: A cooperation problem and a
coordination problem, meaning that they have to “build trust and contract
mechanisms that prevent someone from raiding an apartment rented through
Airbnb (cooperation problem) and ensure that an Uber driver is in the right
place at the right time to pick up a passenger (coordination problem).” The
sharing economy relies on digital platforms to facilitate interactions between
individuals and/or businesses, however, collaborative, long-term relationships
are foundational to supply chains and sharing-economy relationships demand
greater fexibility (Atkins & Gianiodis, 2021).
Finally, the rapid evolution of technology and consumer preferences are
shaping new business models. The sharing economy represents an emerg-
ing trend that is transforming society and business today (Lee et al., 2018).
The sharing economy has turned many industries upside down in the last
decade. Companies need to rethink their business in the context of the shar-
ing economy. Although the model has its positive and negative side effects, it
can beneft many industries and economies in a sustainable way. Based on the
scientometric review of a dataset of 2,229 scholarly publications from the Web
of Science on the sharing economy, Klarin and Suseno (2021) suggest that
further research should focus on examining the value creation of the sharing
economy in terms of business models, and examine the sharing economy in
other industries and sectors. In line with this statement, we examine the shar-
ing economy in the supply-chain industry in the rest of the chapter.
9.2.2 The Relationship Between the Sharing

Economy and the Supply-Chain Industry
Given the current economic situation and globalization, supply chains are
becoming increasingly complex (Varma et al., 2006). The sharing-economy
approach to supply chains offers many opportunities. First, it is necessary to
shift the focus from the corporate level to the supply-chain level and also to
align organizational goals with sustainability goals to address rising environ-
mental and social concerns (Gold et al., 2010a, 2010b). From a business per-
spective, companies could engage in comanaged collaboration, which means
sharing employees or physical assets, sharing technology, and sharing data
or reports to meet customer demand in a more effective and timely man-
ner. From an environmental perspective, supply-chain sharing could reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions. A company could also partner with third-party
delivery services to achieve same-day delivery or fnd new solutions to unsold
inventory, such as renting to businesses and collecting data on which items
are most popular to better meet the needs of future customers (Hunt, 2018).
In a recent study on the relationship between sharing economy and supply-
chain management by Atkins and Gianiodis (2021), the supply-chain network is
depicted, which includes a focal company as the central node and the sharing-
economy companies (central dots). The customer companies are downstream,
while the supplier and logistics companies are upstream. Logistics companies
offer the transport, handling, and storage services from logistics networks, while
supplier companies such as manufacturers and “procurement marketplaces”
(Atkins & Gianiodis, 2021) form supplier networks. Downstream, from the cen-
tral node is a customer network that consists of retail companies that connects
sellers with a wide network of customers, auction companies, rental companies,
and customer-service companies. The companies within and between networks
use advanced software solutions and/or digital platforms to operate in a sharing-
economy manner.
Depending on its position in the supply chain, the focal company may
engage in the sharing economy as a service provider and look downward to a
network of customers, or it may engage as a service user and look upward to
networks of suppliers or logistics service providers. Indeed, depending on the
perspective, one company’s supplier network is another company’s customer
network (Figure 9.1).
Figure 9.1 Sharing-economy Supply-Chain network.

Source: Author’s work based on Atkins and Gianiodis (2021).
Logistics providers such as 3PL and 4PL are the main drivers of the sharing
economy in the supply chain as they offer sharing services to their customers,
such as higher utilization rates of transport vehicles, better utilization of ware-
house space, reduced logistics costs and/or a lower carbon footprint (O’Byrne,
2020).
9.3 Materials and Methods

The aim of this chapter is to examine the concept of sharing economy, with
special focus on the supply-chain industry. To achieve this, an analytical
framework has been constructed based on previous literature on the sharing
economy. The theoretical framework of the study helped the authors better
understand the characteristics of the sharing economy and its unique fea-
tures. Next, a case-study analysis is conducted, which is commonly used in
supply-chain-related research (Seuring, 2008; Azevedo et al., 2011; Pagell &

Wu, 2009; Pavlić Skender & Zaninović, 2020) as well as sharing-economy-
related research (Daunorienė et al., 2015; Gao & Zhang, 2016; Lan et al., 2017).
According to Yin (2014), case-study analysis is useful in the early stages of
research, especially when there is a scarce selection of available literature.
Considering that sharing economy is a relatively new topic in supply-chain
research, our case-study analysis relies on the available secondary data from
the feld. Data related to the implementation of sharing economy in supply-
chain practices are collected from online sources. Based on these data, we
qualitatively analyze and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the
sharing-economy system in supply chains. This study examines the concept
of the sharing economy in the global supply chain through three case studies.
The main criteria for selecting the cases were that they are companies within
the supply-chain industry that are pioneers in digital supply-chain solutions
and that they operate on a global scale.
A summary of the case study profles is presented in more detail below.
DHL International GmbH (Product: DHL Spaces Platform)

DHL is an international logistics company founded in the year 1969 and
employs more than 400,000 people in over 220 countries. With more than
1.61 billion parcels delivered each year, DHL is a global leader in logistics.
The company is divided into six divisions: Post and Packages, DHL Express,
DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Freight, DHL Supply Chain, and DHL Parcel.
The company uses advanced technology to shape, remodel, and facilitate
the modern supply-chain industry. DHL is a leader in innovative business
solutions and one of the frst companies to adopt the sharing-economy busi-
ness model. DHL is working on its “Strategy 2025—Delivering Excellence in
a Digital World,” that aims to connect people, and be both sustainable and
technologically advanced (DHL, 2021a).
Uber Technologies Inc. (Product: Uber Freight Platform)

Uber Technologies Inc. is a technology company founded in the year 2009 and
based in the United States. The company is known as Uber and is headquartered
in San Francisco, California. Uber is present in over 900 cities around the world.
Uber is a fast-growing global company that seems to be successful in adopting
high-tech/innovative business models (PwC, 2015). Its services include ride-hail-
ing, meal delivery, package delivery, courier services, freight transportation and,
through a partnership with Lime, electric-bike and motorized-scooter rentals.

Uber is also known as one of the largest and most popular companies in the
sharing economy (Uber, 2021). Uber is an appropriate case-study model for the
sharing-economy analysis due to its popularity (Lee et al., 2018).
Amazon (Product: Amazon Flex Platform)

Amazon was founded in the year 1994 as a small online company. Amazon.com,
Inc. is a US multinational technology company focused on e-commerce, cloud
computing, digital streaming, and artifcial intelligence. Together with Google,
Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, Amazon presents one of the most successful
and popular companies in the U.S. information-technology industry.
Amazon is a novel digital sharing-economy platform because it is changing
the business ecosystems (Gong et al., 2019). The company has been called
“one of the world’s most infuential economic and cultural forces” as well as
the world’s most valuable brand. Although Amazon’s core business is online
retail, the company offers many different transportation services under the
Amazon brand to deliver packages, such as Amazon Air, Amazon Logistics,
Amazon Prime Air, and Amazon Flex, which is one of the shared-economy
services (Amazon, 2021).
9.4 Research Results and Discussion

The sharing-economy model is gaining more and more importance in business
practice nowadays. It has positive implications for the business relationship in
supply chains between potential market competitors. The sharing economy
in the supply chain determines the requirement to manage the potential of
companies and the relationships between them in a revolutionary way. In the
supply chain, transportation and warehousing represent the most important
sharing processes (Ocicka & Wieteska, 2017).
Warehouse Sharing—DHL Spaces Case Study

Warehouse sharing is a practice that is becoming increasingly popular in
modern supply-chain business, especially in e-commerce. Shared warehouses
are actually public warehouses used by many customers. Different custom-
ers share the warehouse space and all associated costs, such as space costs,
warehouse-worker costs, equipment costs, and technology costs. Shared
warehouses offer many advantages, for example, small businesses can enter
new markets without having to make large investments in warehouses and
long-term contracts. Shared warehouses are fexible in terms of supply-chain
requirements; companies can use several small warehouses in different loca-
tions instead of running a large and central distribution center and are not
forced to fll the entire warehouse capacity, but only the space they need. In
this way, they avoid high fxed costs and risks. But besides that, it has other
strategic advantages as it allows companies to store their inventory closer to
their clients, speed up their velocity, and reduce their CO2 emissions. For
companies that sell seasonal products and need a lot of storage capacity at
short notice, shared warehousing can be benefcial.
Shared warehousing is the ability to expand companies’ product offerings,
shorten delivery times, and enter new markets without incurring additional
costs or time. Shared warehousing represents a cost-effective, nonbinding,
and fexible business model (Ready Spaces, 2021). The shared-warehousing
business model requires a platform that provides information about available
warehouses, their location, capacity, and the ability to book the warehouse.
DHL recognized the need for a platform that enables the practice of shared
warehousing and invented the DHL Spaces platform. It is a digital warehouse
locator that allows users to search for warehouse spaces in Europe, Middle
East, and Africa. DHL Spaces shows users the location of the warehouse
space, how many square meters are available, and provides contact informa-
tion for booking the warehouse space (O’Byrne, 2020). Warehouse Locator is
offered to existing DHL customers and expanding businesses. Users can fnd a
variety of existing and newly developed space offerings in all sizes for short-,
medium-, and long-term use (DHL, 2021b). Figure 9.2 illustrates the shared-
warehouse business model.
Transport Sharing—Uber Freight and

Amazon Flex Case Studies
The business model of shared transportation has already been put into prac-
tice in the supply chain. In order to meet demand while remaining proft-
able, logistics companies have developed solutions in which they combine
small shipments (less than truckload—LTL) into one large shipment (full
truckload—FTL) at consolidation centers (Mason & Harris, 2019, p. 18).
Before the consolidation point, smaller and more frequent deliveries were
made by empty vehicles, while after the introduction of the consolidation
point in the earlier phase of transport, deliveries were made in fuller vehicles
Warehouse Warehouse
provider user
Shared warehouse
Access to market
Digital pla˜orm
Figure 9.2 Shared-Warehouse Business Model.

Source: Authors’ work based on DHL (2017).
and in a more economical and environmentally friendly way. However, this

type of consolidation center involves a one-to-one “split”: Two suppliers
working together to set up and operate the consolidation center together. In
many cases, other neighboring suppliers also had to be involved, and the
location of the consolidation center was not always ideally located for the
incoming customer, raising the question of how optimal the arrangements
were.
The development of digital technology has created new opportunities for
better utilization of all modes of transport and more optimized transport
operations. Digital platforms allow providers and users better connections and
access to information. Freight sharing offers opportunities to reduce/control
costs while improving the level of service required for “last-mile” delivery.
Numerous innovative examples are being brought forward and offered com-
mercially (Mason & Harris, 2019), among which are Uber Freight and Amazon
Flex services.
Uber Technologies Inc. launched Uber Freight in 2017 to match truck driv-
ers with carriers, similar to how the company’s ride-hailing app connects
passengers seeking a ride with available drivers. The advantages of using
Uber Freight are numerous, as the application offers the possibility to book
transport 24 hours a day; it offers intelligent suggestions and transparent and
guaranteed prices. In addition, the application provides an overview of live

freight tracking and the global network of shippers and carriers (Uber, 2021).
The growing trend towards e-commerce raises the question of the “last
mile.” The “last mile” is particularly problematic when it comes to achieving
a high level of service at minimal cost. The sharing-transport concept has
shown to be suitable for overcoming some of the challenges related to the
“last mile” (Joerss et al., 2016). Looking at the impact of e-commerce on trans-
portation, the rapid increase in delivery speed has led to enormous challenges
in organizing the distribution of online orders. Last-mile delivery is the most
diffcult part of the distribution process and one of the highest cost compo-
nents (Joerss et al., 2016). The last mile makes up approximately 30% of total
logistics costs. The last mile represents a fnal stage in the distribution process
where delivery is made from the last distribution point, either a warehouse or
a distribution center, to the user, either at the recipient’s home or at a pickup
location.
Recognizing the problem and opportunity associated with the last mile,
Amazon Inc. launched a service called Amazon Flex in 2015. Amazon Flex
works in such a way that actually anyone who owns a car can deliver an
Amazon Prime product to homes or businesses. Amazon is turning to inde-
pendent contractors in this way to handle their last-mile deliveries. Amazon
Flex is known to handle some of the company’s last-mile deliveries, which is
beyond the capabilities of standard delivery companies with about 5 billion
items shipped each year (O’Byrne, 2020).
9.5 Conclusion
The aim of this chapter was to examine the concept of the sharing economy
in general, namely its possible positive and negative effects on economic
growth and development. In addition, this research provides a specifc insight
into the current practice of the sharing economy in the supply-chain industry
and assesses the challenges and opportunities of implementing the sharing
economy in supply-chain business operations through three case-study exam-
ples from the transportation and warehousing businesses. There is obviously
a gap in the literature dealing with the sharing-economy business model in
the supply-chain industry. The reason for this is actually the immaturity of the
application of the sharing-economy practice. The idea of sharing economy is
not new, people have shared and rented goods for a long time, but the new
business practice of sharing economy based on digital platforms and social
technology is in its birth phase. The sharing economy was frst introduced in
urban transportation and hospitality, with Uber and Airbnb leading the way.
Nowadays, however, it can be seen that the sharing-economy business model
can be applied to many industries, although it has been shown to be particu-
larly taken up in industries with large assets, such as mobility and hospitality.
Both the public and private sectors are undergoing dramatic change, and
evaluating new business models is critical to achieving the triple bottom line,
i.e., economic, social, and environmental concerns. The concept of the shar-
ing economy could be the template for this; however, it is too early to con-
frm. Some positive impacts of applying the sharing economy are the use of
underutilized resources, more effcient distribution of resources, fexible busi-
ness models, and positive environmental impacts in terms of greenhouse-gas
reduction. On the other hand, there are also negative sides of the sharing
economy, such as lack of transparency and underpaid employers with limited
rights, and lack of economic security. The analysis of the three case studies
shows that the sharing-economy model has already been implemented in the
supply-chain industry—especially in transportation and warehousing—but to
a lesser extent. Sharing warehouses and transportation is based on digital
platforms and offers many benefts to the business as it solves some crucial
issues such as the high cost of renting an entire warehouse, location decision,
and size of the warehouse. Warehouse sharing allows for better utilization
and solves some inventory-management issues. In conjunction, transporta-
tion sharing also benefts from the high cost of investing in the feet and all
the additional costs associated with it. Transportation sharing also solves the
high cost of last-mile delivery. Although case studies show positive examples,
underpaid drivers and related transparency problems are present.
Finally, the positive patterns of the concept of sharing economy are evi-
dent, and it is expected that with the development of digital platforms, shar-
ing in the supply chain will take its upswing. Its further implementation and
development should have multiple impacts on supply-chain business and
economic development as a whole. Although some positive patterns of the
sharing-economy concept can be seen, it is not possible to draw accurate
conclusions due to the short period of analysis and data limitations. Further
research could be extended with interviewing different stakeholders in the
supply-chain industry regarding their opinion on the future of the sharing
economy. This research flls the gaps in the literature on the connection
between sharing economy and the supply-chain industry. This work con-
tributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing new insights into
the best practices of the sharing economy and its positive and negative
characteristics. The fndings can guide future business decisions for policy
makers, as well as supply-chain managers and founders of digital start-ups.
Acknowledgments
This paper was founded under the project line ZIP UNIRI of the University
of Rijeka, for the project ZIP-UNIRI-130–9–20 (E-)education and Human
Resources Development.
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SUStAinABLe iii
LoGiStiCS
Applications and
Challenges
Chapter 10
Smart Logistics: Sustainable

Distribution in the Age of
the internet of things
Maria Bajak
Cracow University of Economics, Poland
Contents
10.1 Introduction..........................................................................................221
10.2 The Triple Foundation of Sustainable Development vs. Logistics ..........222
Economic [Proft] .................................................................................223
Social [People] .....................................................................................223
Ecological [Planet] ...............................................................................224
10.3 Smart Solutions in Logistics.................................................................224
10.4 The Research Method ..........................................................................229
10.5 The Results ...........................................................................................230
10.6 Discussing the Results of Other People’s Research............................235
10.7 Implications for Theory and Practice .................................................236
10.8 Conclusions..........................................................................................239
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................240
References.......................................................................................................240
10.1 introduction
The main objective of this chapter is to analyze and evaluate the implementa-
tion of the concept of sustainable distribution using solutions offered by the
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-13 221

Internet of Things. The undertaken discussion comprises a review of world

literature on the subject and an analysis of nine projects in the area of land,
water, and air transport. The presented considerations relate to SMART logis-
tics and sustainable development.
Undoubtedly, the development of information and communication technol-
ogies (ICT) has had a major impact on the contemporary world. The dynamic
development of computer networks, which link everybody and everything
(M. Castells’ information-technology paradigm), facilitates more effective plan-
ning, organization, and management of logistics resources in the area of distri-
bution. Digital technologies play a crucial role in increasing the productivity of
vehicles and improving supply-chain-management processes, allowing for the
development of more economical, safe, and environmentally friendly trans-
port systems (Carrasco-Gallego & Moreno-Romero, 2010 Liu et al., 2019). The
mass-scale development of SMART tools (e.g., applications, sensors, artifcial
intelligence) strengthens horizontal and vertical integration between particular
links of supply chains (Schrauf & Berrtram, 2016; Kayikci, 2018). The use of
information and communication technologies facilitates the development of
networks of interrelated devices referred to as the Internet of Things (Kortuem
et al., 2010; Dobbs et al., 2016; Buntak et al., 2019). The extension of this con-
cept, which consists of managing the transport of people and goods using
integrated IT infrastructure, facilitating its automatization and control, can be
referred to as SMART logistics.
10.2 the triple Foundation of Sustainable

Development vs. Logistics
Presently, sustainable development is a signifcant concept in conducting eco-
nomic activities. The World Commission on the Environment and Development
defnes it as development “which meets the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”
(Omri & Ben Mabrouk, 2020). Its practical implementation relates to various
economic and social processes including those in the feld of logistics.
The specifcity of the TSL sector, particularly its great development poten-
tial, openness to innovation, and impact on the effectiveness of the economy
and the quality of life, contributes to its special position in the area of sus-
tainable development. Sustainable distribution refers to the concept and prin-
ciples of sustainability (Portney, 2015; Thiele, 2016; Filho et al., 2019), and
can be defned as an effort aimed at adapting the functions, processes, and
Smart Logistics: Sustainable Distribution in the Age of IoT ◾ 223
practices of delivering goods and services to economic, social, and environ-

mental requirements. This approach to distribution corresponds to the con-
cept of the triple bottom line, developed by J. Elkington (1994). According to
this concept, sustainable development relies on three elements: The people,
the planet, and proft. These elements can be defned as economic, social, and
environmental factors, which should be considered in designing sustainable
solutions (Agrawal & Singh, 2019). These components can be referred to as
logistics processes:
Economic [Proft]
This element refers to the use of effective and innovative solutions in transport
and shipping, aimed at considerably cutting costs during the entire life cycle
of vehicles, machines, and buildings (Ang et al., 2017; Tiwong et al., 2019). It
relates to all outlays including the following:
1) Implementation costs—they are incurred in connection with developing

solutions, testing, and implementation processes (Gonzales-Feliu, 2018);
2) costs of use—all outlays related to the use of a solution and possible ser-
vicing (Digiesi et al., 2015);
3) disposal costs—expenditure resulting from conducting recalls, liquida-
tions, or processing (Gupta, 2016).
Social [People]
This component refers to ensuring the comfort, ergonomics, and safety of
implemented solutions. A special role is played in cooperation with other
elements of space, the comfort of recipients and third parties, as well as an
aesthetic approach to infrastructure and means of transport (Eden et al., 2017;
Garau & Pavan, 2018, Hurtová et al., 2018). The issues of key signifcance
relate to the following:
1) The approval of a project—considering the social reception of an imple-

mented solution and the interests of its future users (Hickson & Owen, 2015);
2) the availability of the infrastructure—ensuring an appropriate level of
user safety and adjusting a solution to user needs (Regiani, 2019; Laasch,
2021);
3) the social impact—integrating a project with the environment, mitigating
its negative effects, and providing benefts across society (Filho, 2021).
Ecological [Planet]
This refers to mitigating a negative impact of supply chains on the natural
environment and climate. It is mainly related to the use of ecological solu-
tions, including the use of innovative materials and technologies (Sarkis et al.,
2002; Cosimato & Troisi, 2014) as well as logistics-process organization, dis-
tribution route optimization, and the so-called “traveling-salesman problem,”
identifed in econometrics and operational research. A special role is played
by adapting projects in the following areas:
1) Energy effciency—reducing the use of natural resources, energy recov-

ery, adapting to external conditions (Hasanuzzaman & Rahim, 2019; Yang,
2019);
2) emission reductions—controlling and reducing pollution, minimizing the
effects of noise, light, and odors (Mulligan, 2019; Fortuński, 2020);
3) reducing waste—the effective use of available resources, ensuring recy-
cling processes (Lemaire & Limbourg, 2019);
4) protecting natural resources—coexistence with an ecosystem, mitigating
the negative effects of implemented solutions on fora and fauna (Grant
et al., 2017).
The concept of the triple bottom line is strongly correlated with the UN
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The document identifes seventeen
goals that set directions for implementing the concept of sustainable devel-
opment. It should be noted that despite the fact that the Agenda’s particular
goals can be referred to as the particular pillars of sustainable development
(Table 10.1), they also, in practice, support the implementation of the remain-
ing elements of the triple bottom line. In the frst place, attention should be
given to the double meaning of transport and shipping in this area. On the
one hand, logistics can independently achieve sustainable-development goals
(through its proper functioning), but, on the other hand, it supports the activi-
ties of market institutions from other industries (through the effcient delivery
of materials and other resources).
10.3 Smart Solutions in Logistics

Digitalization is inseparably linked to the development of transport and ship-
ment systems. Technological development plays a crucial role in the context
table 10.1 Sustainable Development Goals vs. the triple Bottom Line and Logistics.
The main The sustainable
component development goal
of the Triple according to the
Bottom Line United Nations Description of the goal Reference to logistics
economic (8) Decent Work Increased organizational Reduced costs of transport
[proft] and Economic effciency, the and warehousing,
Growth promotion of economic corporate development
development, and job and modernization, and
creation. employing staff.
(17) Partnerships Ensuring access to Joint achievement of
for Goals effective public sustainable goals with
institutions, and partners, and
cooperation between cooperation with the
organizations. social and economic
environment.
Social (1) No Poverty Fighting poverty and Job creation, offering
[people] ensuring decent decent compensation to
living conditions for employees.
everybody.
(2) Zero Hunger Eliminating hunger, Improvements in food
ensuring access to supply chains, and food-
high-quality food, and inventory-management
stabilizing food prices. optimization.
(3) Good Health Providing universal Ensuring the safety of
and Well-Being access to medical adopted solutions,
services, and reducing accident rates,
increasing people’s and improvements in the
safety. supply of medical
equipment.
(4) Quality Increasing levels of Enlarging employees’
Education education in society knowledge, and
and providing developing their skills
opportunities for its and competencies.
development.
(5) Gender Eliminating gender Employment and equal
Equality discrimination. treatment of genders.
(9) Industry, Increasing the quality The use of modern
Innovation, and and reliability of materials and
Infrastructure infrastructure, technologies, the use of
supporting R&D and innovative solutions
innovation. aimed at improving the
movement of goods and
ensuring safety.
(Continued)
table 10.1 (Continued) Sustainable Development Goals vs. the triple Bottom Line
and Logistics.
(10) Reducing Reducing Providing access to goods
Inequality discriminatory laws in transport-excluded
and practices, and areas, ensuring equal
closing social gaps. employment
opportunities.
(11) Sustainable Creating safe and Optimizing the movement
Cities and sustainable living of people and goods,
Communities spaces, adjusted to supporting city and
social needs. regional development
through an integrated
logistics network.
(16) Peace, Creating effective and Supporting socially
Justice, and responsible important values and the
Strong institutions, and decent treatment of
Institutions improvements in stakeholders.
legislation.
ecological (6) Clean Water Reducing water Mitigating the negative
[planet] and Sanitation pollution and the impact of supply chains
generation of waste, on water resources and
increasing water- the effective management
management of water resources.
effectiveness.
(7) Affordable Rationalizing energy The use of ecological
and Clean management and the energy sources, energy
Energy use of renewable recovery, and reduced
energy sources. use of energy by logistics
networks.
(12) Responsible Promoting responsible Balancing supply chains,
Consumption consumption and reducing waste, the
and Production production, and a recovery of raw materials,
circular economy. and implementing
reverse logistics.
(13) Climate Mitigating the impact Reducing exhaust
Action of climate change. emissions, mitigating the
negative effect of transport
and warehousing on the
climate.
table 10.1 (Continued) Sustainable Development Goals vs. the triple Bottom Line
and Logistics.
(14) Life Below Protecting maritime Reducing water pollution
Water and coastal by supply chains and
ecosystems, reducing reducing ship accidents
water pollution. and breakdowns.
(15) Life On Land Reducing the The sustainable use of
devastation of land ecosystems, reducing
spaces, protecting environmental
the fora and fauna, degradation resulting
and supporting from transport and
biodiversity. warehousing.
Source: Author’s research based on the United Nations (2015); Elkington (1994).
of sustainable development and in implementing the concept of the triple

bottom line. It provides opportunities for introducing SMART solutions, which
result from the development of networks of interrelated devices integrating
buildings, companies, or entire cities. A special function in this area is per-
formed by the Internet of Things systems (IoT). They represent another step
towards social and economic digitalization (Rose et al., 2015), in which inter-
related objects and devices collect and analyze data, as well as control and
optimize processes in all areas of human life and economic activity (Dobbs et
al., 2016). The “always connect” paradigm is a signifcant characteristic of the
Internet of Things. It is of key signifcance to logistics, enabling the monitor-
ing of the current status of transported goods (Tadejko, 2015) and coordinat-
ing demand-and-supply time-related factors. In such systems, sensors and IoT
elements exchange information via wired and wireless communication chan-
nels. It allows for the effcient exchange of information, which translates into
logistics process harmonization, thus creating a new dimension of integrating
IT systems and networks (Yu et al., 2020).
Transport solutions that make use of complex IoT networks and other
advanced IT solutions, such as artifcial intelligence mechanisms, are com-
monly referred to as SMART. The functioning of this system is controlled and
optimized, allowing it to achieve economic, social, and ecological benefts
(Jia et al., 2019). ICT technologies in logistics systems facilitate intermodal-
ity and ensure the effectiveness of all supply-chain stages (Carrasco-Gallego
& Moreno-Romero, 2010; Tadejko, 2015), contributing to the practical imple-

mentation of the sustainable-development concept. The major benefts of
implementing SMART logistics include cost cutting, reduced delivery time and
failure rates, greater reliability and fexibility (economic benefts), safety and
accessibility (social benefts), and reductions in waste and pollution (ecological
beneft) (Kayikci, 2018).
The development of SMART logistics has an impact on the entire process
of the movement of goods and their components. Benefts of implementing
integrated IT systems relate to six areas:
1) Production—process optimization, an adaptation of processes to market

needs, and a reduced generation of waste (Zhou & Piramuthu, 2013);
2) transport and procurement—the identifcation and optimization, and
reduction in costs and risk, of increased process effectiveness (Shin &
Eksioglu, 2015; Kamble et al., 2019), as well as improvements in the move-
ment of goods and more effective control and coordination of supply
chains (Ben-Daya et al., 2019);
3) warehousing—reduced costs, increased safety, process accuracy and pro-
ductivity, the detection of errors (Sagaya-Selvaraj & Anusha, 2021), and
the identifcation and monitoring of resources aimed at optimizing space
management (Kamali, 2019);
4) customer service—improvements in supply chains aimed at better satis-
fying customer needs (Gružauskas et al., 2018), the integration of physical
and information streams, the coordination of production and promotion
activities (Bertolini et al., 2013), the analyses of data collected by systems
to create innovation, increasing brand competitiveness and brand loyalty
(Öztays˛i et al., 2009);
5) transfer of data—increasing the effectiveness of the exchange of data
between partners, leading to increased trust and collaboration (Piramuthu
et al., 2015; Feng et al., 2020), the increased identifability of goods, and
the transparency of operations (Attaran, 2020; Merkaš et al., 2020), stimu-
lating logistics processes based on forecasts (Gu & Liu, 2013);
6) recycling—implementing reverse logistics, improving and optimizing the
movement of goods from the beginning to the end of a supply chain (Asif,
2011; Usama & Ramish, 2020), estimating the value and utility of residual
products (Condea et al., 2010; Kongar et al., 2015), and process integra-
tion as part of a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) (Gu & Liu, 2013; Hu et al.,
2021).
The implementation of integrated IT solutions can contribute to changes in the

interpretation of logistics and focus the business on intelligent, productive, and
sustainable systems of digital logistics (Schrauf & Berrtram, 2016).
10.4 the Research Method

The main objective of this chapter is to analyze and assess the implementa-
tion of sustainable distribution using the Internet of Things solutions. The
achievement of this objective is based on an analysis and assessment of the
actual implementation of systems that use SMART solutions in land, water, and
air distribution. The analysis is based on case research—an in-depth analysis
of empirical material (using primary and secondary data) to explore relevant
processes and their context (Rashid et al., 2019). Because of the character of
the researched problem, the analysis is based on the combination of nine dif-
ferent case studies—not on one case as is frequently practiced. It allows for
identifying differences and similarities between particular cases. Correlations
are presented in tables, which is a common practice in this method of research
(Miles et al., 2019). It serves to deepen the presented fndings, and identify
links between the researched cases (Halkias & Neubert, 2020). In this chapter,
correlations between the analyzed cases allow for creating a model of SMART
solutions in implementing the principles of sustainable distribution.
Because of the dynamic development of technologies related to the Internet
of Things and their numerous implementations in logistics, the analysis is
based on selected projects from the perspective of the main research goal. The
selection of information about specifc projects was preceded by the search
of websites aimed at fnding ecological competitions and institutions granting
sustainable-development certifcates. The following criteria were adopted:
1) Spectacular cases of implementing sustainable-development concepts;

2) the use of the Internet of Things;
3) the possibility of disseminating employed solutions by other institutions;
4) prospects for further improvements of the presented system.
Finally, three case studies were conducted for each type of distribution—
by land, water, and air. For each area, one of the three components was
selected: A handling terminal, a vehicle, and a logistics operator. In the frst
place, the analysis focused on the benefts of the use of IoT in implemented
solutions as well as the main objectives of implemented systems. The analy-

sis was conducted using available secondary sources. It comprised selected
distribution systems and their technical specifcations. The analysis was also
based on available scientifc and specialized literature, interviews, articles,
and expert opinions. The particular cases were also analyzed from the
perspective of their compliance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. It allowed assessing the main areas of implement-
ing sustainable-development concepts in supporting distribution systems
with SMART solutions.
10.5 the Results

The study comprises nine carefully selected projects representing land dis-
tribution (Getafe Terminal Logistics Centre, IVECO S-Way Np 460, DB Cargo
UK), water distribution (Port of Le Havre, MV Yara Birkeland, Hamburg Süd),
and air distribution (Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Boeing 777F, Air
France-KLM Cargo). Each mode of transport is referred to as one signifcant
component of a distribution system: One handling terminal, a vehicle, and a
logistics operator (Table 10.2). A synthetic representation of the specifcity of
the selected cases is based on the description of the main objectives of imple-
menting the Internet of Things systems in particular cases. They refer to the
main reasons for which organizations decide to use SMART solutions, and
they are identifed based on available documentation and seasonal reports.
Moreover, attention is given to the characteristic features of projects, which
results indirectly from the use of intelligent systems, e.g., granted certifcates
or prizes.
The conducted analysis also aimed at fnding out whether the adopted solu-
tions met the criteria of UN sustainable goals as a result of the use of IoT tech-
nologies (2016). On average, the analyzed cases fulfll the requirements of nine
sustainable-development goals, and the difference between the smallest and
the largest number of achieved goals is four (Table 10.3). However, it is not pos-
sible to indicate that the analysis translates to a general degree of sustainability
of the particular solutions. Some of them are focused on achieving a smaller
number of goals, while others comprise a wider spectrum of functionalities,
but are less dedicated to meeting specifc criteria. The average number of
achieved goals for inland transport (8), water transport (9.67), and air transport
(9.33) are similar. However, it is possible to identify specifc goals corresponding
to the particular areas of distribution. A signifcant role in land and air transport
table 10.2 Review of Analyzed Solutions.
Number of
the Project Name Country Type Main objectives of implementation Characteristic features
Land distribution
1. Getafe Spain Handling —reduction in CO2 emissions —holder of BREEAM Excellent
Terminal terminal —integration with the environment certifcate
Logistics —mitigating negative effects on the
Smart Logistics: Sustainable Distribution in the Age of IoT

Centre environment
2. IVECO Italy Vehicle —lower fuel consumption —winner of “Sustainable Truck of the
S-Way Np —reduced gas emissions Year 2021”
460 —driver support and safety —the widest range in this category of
vehicles
3. DB Cargo United Operator —use of ecological fuels and —winner of the competition including
UK Kingdom reduced CO2 emissions “Best Rail Freight Operator” in 2018,
—cargo location detection and “Rail Freight and Logistics
—the more effective management of Excellence Award” in 2021
carriages and improved handling
operations
Water distribution
4. HAROPA, France Handling —mitigating the impact of port and —several world prizes were awarded
Port of Le terminal industrial activities on the for implemented solutions including
Havre environment The AFLAS Award (2015, 2016, 2017,
—integration with the social 2020—Best Green Seaport); IBJ
environment Award (2012, 2013, 2016—Best Solid
—improvements in supply chains Bulk Port)
5. MV Yara Norway Vehicle —emission-free and autonomous —the frst emission-free commercial
Birkeland container transport ship in the world
◾
—use of all-electric drive —winner of many prizes including The
—reduction in noise, NOx, CO2, and Norwegian Industry Climate Prize (2018),
231
waste Green Award—Special Prize (2019)
(Continued)
table 10.2 (Continued) Review of Analyzed Solutions.
232
Number of
◾
the Project Name Country Type Main objectives of implementation Characteristic features
6. Hamburg Germany Operator —remote container monitoring and —winner of The AFLAS Award (2019,
Süd management 2020)—Best Green Shipping Line;
—reduction in greenhouse gases Supplier Excellence Award (2019);
and pollution Global Freight Award—Environment
—increased energy effciency (2018)
Air distribution
7. Dallas Fort The Handling —protection of natural resources —the frst Carbon Neutral Airport in
Worth United terminal and increased operating potential North America, the largest in the
International States of —use of natural energy sources world
Airport America —strengthening employee —holder of the highest rank
competencies and potential (Transition) in Airport Carbon
Accreditation
8. Boeing 777F The Vehicle —reduction in CO2 emissions and —the frst carbon-neutral cargo fight
United pollution
States of —productivity and safety
America optimization
—intelligent route adjustment,
—automated cockpit adjustment to
cargo and external factors
9. Singapore Singapore Operator —reduced consumption of energy, —the world’s most frequently awarded
Airlines waste generation, and CO2 airline: The AFLAS Award (2020,
Cargo emissions 2019)—Best Green Airline; ACE
—increased effectiveness of air Awards, Top Carriers—Gold (2019);
operations, ACSA Feather Awards—Best Cargo
—integration of supply-chain Airline (2018).
management
Source: Author’s research based on AFLAS Awards (2020); Boeing (2020); DB Cargo (2020; 2021); DFW Airport (2020); Goodman (2021);
Hamburg Süd Line (2021); Haropa Ports (2021); Iveco (2021); Singapore Airlines (2021), Yara (2021).
table 10.3 Achievement of Sustainable-Development Goals Resulting from implemented Solutions in Case Research.
Sustainable Development Goals by United Number of the Project
Nations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
(1) No Poverty - - - - - - - - -
(2) Zero Hunger - - - - - - - - -
(3) Good Health and Well-Being     -    
Smart Logistics: Sustainable Distribution in the Age of IoT

(4) Quality Education - - - - - - - - -
(5) Gender Equality - - - - - - - - -
(6) Clean Water and Sanitation - - -    - - 
(7) Affordable and Clean Energy         
(8) Decent Work and Economic Growth         
(9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure         
(10) Reducing Inequality - - - - - -  - -
(11) Sustainable Cities and Communities  -   - -  - 
(12) Responsible Consumption and Production         
(13) Climate Action         
(14) Life Below Water - - -    - - -
(15) Life On Land       
(16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions - - - - - -  - -
(17) Partnerships for Goals - -       
Legend:
 compliance with SMART solutions with sustainable-develpment goals,
- failure to achieve a sustainable-development goal as a result of SMART solutions
Source: Author’s research.
◾
233
is played by integration with the social environment (Sustainable Cities and

Communities), and also, in the case of land transport, the concern with fora
and fauna (Life On Land). Water distribution, on the other hand, focuses on
water and its life (Clean Water and Sanitation; Life Below Water).
The analysis indicates that fve of the UN sustainable-development goals
(Figure 10.1) are achieved by all the analyzed solutions: Affordable and Clean
Energy; Decent Work and Economic Growth; Industry, Innovation, and
Infrastructure; Responsible Consumption and Production; and Climate Action.
On the other hand, the analyzed cases do not meet any of the requirements
related to four UN goals: No Poverty; Zero Hunger; Quality Education; Gender
Equality. However, the fact that a given goal is not achieved despite the use
of SMART solutions does not indicate that the analyzed entities disregard this
goal. In many cases, goals are achieved as part of other institutional policies
which are not directly related to IoT solutions. Moreover, the analysis of the
Figure 10.1 the importance of the Goals.

organizations which deal with the transport of both goods and passengers
focuses only on cargo-related solutions.
The signifcance of UN sustainable-development goals is different in particu-
lar analyzed cases. Despite a small number of goals regarded as fully related
to the economic component, it is they that are the most signifcant in SMART
distribution (level of implementation = 88.9%) among the analyzed solutions.
Also, a crucial role in corporate activities is played by ecological goals (level of
implementation = 75.93%). It should be noted that this area of activity attributes
great signifcance to goals related to reductions in energy consumption and the
use of materials (Affordable and Clean Energy; Responsible Consumption and
Production). The achievement of such goals translates to a company’s long-term
fnancial savings. Social goals play the least signifcant role in distribution (level
of implementation = 29.63%). Interestingly, also, in this case, the most signifcant
goal relates to development and increased effectiveness (Industry, Innovation, and
Infrastructure), which is strongly linked to an organization’s economic benefts.
However, from the perspective of logistics, it can be expected that despite a low
level of achieving social goals in the distribution of goods (29.63%), in the case
of passenger transport, the performance of this task is much more signifcant—
cargo movements do not much rely on interactions with people.
10.6 Discussing the Results of other

People’s Research
These considerations combine three important areas: Distribution, sustainable
development, and SMART technologies. There is still a lack of publications on
this topic in the literature—most articles touch upon two of the indicated top-
ics at most. However, there is no doubt that the development of digital systems
and their implementation in supply chains, on the one hand, contribute to the
expansion of the logistics industry (Buntak et al., 2019; Witkowski, 2017) and, on
the other hand, support its sustainability (Liu et al., 2019; Ghahremani Nahr et
al., 2021). When analyzing the digitalization of distribution processes, resources,
practices, and functions, it should be pointed out that the role of systems from
the Internet of Things area revolves around their monitoring, automation, con-
trol, and optimization (cf. Heppelmann & Porter, 2014). It is possible through
the functions of IoT programs, such as the identifcation and tagging of objects,
their location and positioning management, autonomous system management,
data collection and analysis, an adaptation of processes to current conditions, as
well as error capture, repair, and prevention (cf. Miller, 2018, Chbaik et al., 2021).
These tasks can be performed at any stage of the distribution process and con-
cern any of its elements (Ferreira et al., 2010; Golpîra et al., 2021). To implement
them, various technologies are used, as well as data-transmission standards,
such as, for example, Wi-Fi, NFC, BLE, UWB, LoRaWAN, and ZigBee (Pundir
et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2020; Machaj et al., 2021), including systems that are a
combination of these solutions (Tabaa et al., 2020). Such integration strengthens
their innovativeness and allows for the better acceleration of their potential. As
a result, it is aligned with market needs in the areas of proftability, society, and
the environment and are, therefore, more sustainable.
The multitude of advantages of IoT systems in distribution is somewhat
counterbalanced by certain risks associated with the use of SMART technol-
ogy in supply chains. First of all, this concerns the problem with privacy and
exposure to hacking attacks (FBI, 2018; Gupta, 2019), but also the diffculties
related to fnancing such investments (Chang & Zhu, 2019; Bajak, 2021). In
addition, human-factor challenges are indicated regarding the need to acquire
new knowledge and skills related to the operation of the systems (Guarda et
al., 2017; Nagy et al., 2018). Despite some barriers, there is no doubt that the
use of new technologies in distribution is a common and necessary phenom-
enon that affects the quality and effciency of the supply chain. Indeed, the
Internet of Things is the technology that, according to a McKinsey report, is
expected to have the greatest impact on the functioning of organizations in the
upcoming years, even overtaking artifcial intelligence and cloud infrastruc-
ture (McKinsey, 2021). The implementation of such systems should, therefore,
be actively supported, primarily through education and fnancial support. In
this area, it is particularly important to point out the need for the govern-
ment to support such sustainable projects. This assistance may be provided,
for example, through subsidies, preferential loans, tax exemptions, as well as
nonfnancial forms of support, such as substantive and legal support or as
training and courses. As a result, it brings mutual benefts—on the one hand,
it supports the development of enterprises and the economy and, on the other
hand, it helps to achieve social and environmental goals.

The conducted research study indicates that from the perspective of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and SMART solutions, the implementa-
tion of projects is focused on their economic component. The analyzed orga-
nizations make efforts to increase the effectiveness of adopted solutions and
generate savings, being simultaneously concerned about social and environmen-

tal issues. SMART solutions perform various functions in the analyzed entities.
A detailed analysis indicates that the functions of SMART systems are related to
process monitoring and facilitating their automatization. In the next step, spe-
cifc activities are subjected to control and optimized with the use of relevant
technologies. The full implementation of all tasks allows us to refer to them as
autonomous solutions. The spectrum of the functionalities of SMART systems is
inseparably linked to implemented logistics processes, available resources, cor-
porate practices, and supply-chain functions. They, in turn, are determined by a
type of distribution (land, water, or air). All these elements affect the scope and
degree of achieving sustainable-development goals. These correlations allow for
the development of a model for achieving sustainable-development goals in the
context of the use of SMART systems in distribution (Figure 10.2).
Figure 10.2 the Model of Achieving Sustainable-Development Goals as a Result of

the Use of SMARt Systems in Distribution.
analyzed and evaluated from the perspective of their compliance with the
goals identifed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Correlations
resulting from their achievement were identifed and defned together with
their strong links with economic organizations’ business assumptions. Apart
from cognitive results, the chapter presents the author’s proposal of a model
for achieving sustainable-development goals as a result of the use of SMART
systems in distribution. It combines theoretical fndings with the synthetic
results of the conducted analysis.
The particular UN sustainable-development goals in economic, social, and
environmental areas are interrelated, and the stronger their mutual links are, the
greater their signifcance for institutions. In the context of the conducted analy-
sis, attention should be given to the signifcance of the issue of proft, which
is supplemented by considerations related to “planet” and “people.” Also, con-
sideration should be given to integration between particular goals, which ulti-
mately leads to economic growth. The digitalization of supply chains focuses
on optimizing logistics resources, increasing the effectiveness of vehicles and
infrastructure as well as reducing consumption and emissions. It results from
the specifcity of SMART technologies, which are focused on process moni-
toring, control, and optimization. The analysis indicates that a crucial role is
also played by cooperation between institutions and the exchange of experi-
ence. Most of the analyzed solutions are jointly employed by various institu-
tions, which are also engaged in achieving sustainable-development goals. It
should be noted that engagement in the issues related to proft, the planet, and
people should be intensifed in the course of achieving particular goals. The
consolidation of goals in organizations’ strategies increases achieved benefts
and results in dynamic development. Therefore, it is fully justifed to create
integrated systems based on implemented processes, available resources, orga-
nizational practices, and supply-chain functions.
The conducted research study has certain limitations—a selective and non-
representative approach to the analyzed cases. The adopted methodological
approach resulted from limited research possibilities on the one hand, and the
intention to explore a complex and open scientifc problem on the other. The
signifcance of the research objective results from the dynamic development of
IoT technologies and their numerous implementations in logistics. Within the
scope of this chapter, it is not possible to explore all the projects that deserve
attention. Moreover, this chapter focuses exclusively on the compliance of nine
international cases with particular sustainable goals, not considering the degree
of their implementation by particular systems. The title problem requires further
research and discussion. Further explorations should be based on an in-depth
The achievement of sustainable-development goals is determined by an

organization’s strategy, specifc policies, adopted assumptions, and business
practices. A signifcant role is also played by exogenous factors such as signif-
cance attributed to sustainable development, the technological revolution, and
the continuous process of the digitalization of the economy (Schwab, 2017)
and all areas of social life (Skinner, 2018). A crucial role in market institutions
is played by economic goals related to increased mid- and long-term market
value and creating conditions for the stable fnancing of corporate opera-
tions and growth. Simultaneously, most processes supported by SMART sys-
tems are related to social and environmental goals. The achievement of such
goals can lead to savings and increased revenue, but these effects are indirect
and require adopting a long-term perspective. Organizations give priority to
their expansion and economic benefts. It enables them to increase available
resources and achieve their corporate objectives, including social and environ-
mental ones, constituting a cause-and-effect sequence.
It should be noted that, because of the specifcity of economic activities
and their major impact on the planet, ecology is the area connected with the
largest number of sustainable-development goals within the framework of the
2030 Agenda. This issue is of vital importance in the context of distribution,
which considerably contributes to environmental pollution. The performance
of ecological tasks is strongly correlated with increasing process effectiveness
and improvements in supply chains. It is supply chains that are the targets of
SMART functionalities of the analyzed logistics systems. It is possible to iden-
tify several correlations in this area between sustainable-development goals
identifed by particular institutions. They mainly concern the components of
key signifcance to organizations: Affordable and Clean Energy; Decent Work
and Economic Growth; Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Responsible
Consumption and Production; and Climate Action. The tasks representing
these areas are related to all the analyzed solutions. Equally important goals
include Good Health and Well-Being, Life on Land, and Partnerships for Goals,
which are achieved by most of the analyzed entities.
10.8 Conclusions
The main objective of this chapter was to analyze and evaluate the imple-
mentation of sustainable distribution using the Internet of Things solutions.
To achieve this objective, we analyzed nine international projects based on
SMART systems in land, water, and air distribution. The particular cases were
analysis of the specifcity of projects related to SMART distribution, giving atten-

tion to the measurement of the degree of achieving particular sustainable-devel-
opment goals. It would be advisable to apply advanced statistical techniques and
carry out long-term observations. There is also a need for extensive international
qualitative and quantitative research studies to analyze stakeholders’ opinions on
the adopted solutions and implementation strategies in developing international
distribution channels. Such an approach will facilitate in-depth and method-
ologically supported assessments of the signifcance of SMART technologies in
achieving sustainable-distribution objectives.
Acknowledgments
The publication was fnanced from the subsidy granted to the Cracow
University of Economics.
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Chapter 11
Digitalization in transport:
An example of transport
Documents
Monika Roman, Piotr Pietrzak, and Sebastian Stolarczyk
Warsaw University of Life Science—SGGW, Poland
Contents
11.1 Introduction..........................................................................................247
11.2 Review of Literature.............................................................................249
11.3 Methodology ........................................................................................251
11.4 Results ..................................................................................................252
11.4.1 The Idea of the GreenTransit Platform .................................252
11.4.2 Benefts and Barriers Resulting from the Use of
Electronic Transport Documents in GreenTransit ................254
11.5 Discussion ............................................................................................259
11.5.1 Contributions ..........................................................................259
11.5.2 Limitations...............................................................................259
11.5.3 Future Research Directions....................................................259
11.6 Conclusions..........................................................................................260
References.......................................................................................................261
11.1 introduction
Improving the fow of information in the supply chain is an important issue
in modern logistics activities. Of particular importance is the implementation
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-14 247

of IT systems in the enterprise for faster data exchange and the automation
of business processes (Gunasekaran et al., 2017; Ngai et al., 2008). Employees
can perform more tasks during one working day, thanks to the support of
their activities by various types of software (Gleissner & Femerling, 2013). The
integration of technological solutions does not take place only within one
company. Signifcant benefts are brought by combining the systems used in
cooperating entities within one supply chain. This speeds up the decision-
making process and allows one to effectively respond to unexpected changes
in demand. In addition, it enables the reduction of costs and better cost con-
trol (Gulledge, 2006; Hahn, 2020).
The implementation of IT systems is often accompanied by the digitiza-
tion of documentation in the enterprise. In addition to the benefts associ-
ated with supporting employee activities by systems, digitization brings
savings in the time spent on preparing and handling paper documentation.
This affects the time of servicing the means of transport in the process
of loading and unloading goods. In transport and forwarding companies,
delivering goods to the recipient in accordance with the 7R principle is a
priority (Patcharawadee et al., 2021). The right time is of particular impor-
tance in this case, and the lack of administration of transport documenta-
tion signifcantly shortens it. The occurrence of any errors may result in
the cargo not reaching the customer at the right time, which often results
in various types of penalties. Therefore, shortening the delivery time is an
opportunity to create a competitive advantage in the market for transport
services.
This chapter presents the impact of digitization of transport documents on
the information-fow processes in the supply chain using the example of the
GreenTransit system. The main research problem of the work was to deter-
mine the benefts and barriers of the implementation of digitization systems in
logistics companies. For this purpose, the example of the GreenTransit platform
was used, which is used to digitize transport documentation in road transport,
and above all the international consignment note (Convention Relative au
Contrat de Transport International de Marchandises par la Route (CMR), which
is proof of the conclusion of a contract for the transport of goods.
The chapter is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews the actual literature
on digitalization in transport, Section 3 describes the methodology, Section
4 is dedicated to a case study describing the digital platform in transport
documents, Section 5 discusses the implications derived from the study and
addresses the limitations of this study and future research directions, and
Section 6 presents concluding remarks.
Digitalization in Transport: An Example of Transport Documents ◾ 249
11.2 Review of Literature

The last two decades described as “the digital age” (Hirt & Willmott, 2014)
have fundamentally changed “the competitive dynamics of industries” (Cichosz
et al., 2020, p. 210). New technologies and concepts such as cloud computing,
big data, blockchain, artifcial intelligence or self-steering processes and ser-
vices have become increasingly important in economic processes. As a result,
the phrase “industry 4.0” has been coined to describe the fourth industrial
revolution (Fruth & Teuteberg, 2017).
The notion of digital transformation (DT) has recently gained a strong
interest in both academia and practice. Although the early research on DT can
be traced back to 1968, it was only after 2014 that the number of papers on
this topic increased substantially (Reis et al., 2018). In 2016, 45% of the total
number of articles are journal articles and 55% are conference proceedings
(Reis et al., 2018). The United States of America, Germany, and the Popular
Republic of China contributed the most to these publications, with 21%, 19%,
and 5%, respectively (Reis et al., 2018).
As Kokkinakos et al. (2016) argue, state-of-the-art technologies, such as
social software, and data analytics, revolutionize the day-to-day operations
of modern organizations in every possible level and way, and as a result, it
is expected that DT is going to soon become one of the most popular terms
on the Internet; therefore, many authors have attempted to defne and dis-
cuss the exact notion of DT. Nevertheless, it should be noted that they have
not reached a consensus on how to defne DT (Cichosz et al., 2020). Scholars
view it as a process (Kondarevych et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2021), a strategy
(Hess et al., 2016; Albukhitan, 2020), and a business model (Kotarba, 2018;
Vaska et al., 2021). It can be assumed that DT is the integration of digital
technologies and business processes in a digital economy (Liu et al., 2011).
In a more detailed approach, DT is viewed as the use of digital technologies
to impact three organizational dimensions: External (improving the digital
customer experience), internal (infuence on business operations, decision
making, and organizational structures), and holistic (impact on all segments
and business functions and thus the emergence of completely new business
models) (Kaufman & Horton, 2015; Schuchmann & Seufert, 2015). However,
it should be pointed out that entrepreneurs are uncomfortable with DT in
reality (Zhang et al., 2021). The slogan “waiting for death without transforma-
tion or dying faster from transformation” has been a prevalent view of digital
transformation in recent years (Zhang et al., 2021). Table 11.1 presents selected
defnitions of digitalization.
table 11.1 Digitalization Defnitions.

(note: the defnitions are presented in chronological order)
Author(s), year, page(s) Defnition(s)
Maxwell & McCain, By transforming an analog signal into discrete pieces,
1997, pp. 141–157 digitalization makes it possible to manipulate
information, text, graphics, software code, audio, and
video in ways never before thought of, thus its
information, transforming capabilities.
Valenduc & The term “digitalization” is not the irruption of a new
Vendramin, 2017, revolution, but the pervasive synergy of digital
pp. 121–134 innovations in the whole economy and society.
Eling & Lehmann, The integration of the analog and digital worlds with new
2018, pp. 359–396 technologies that enhance customer interactions, data
availability, and business process.
Ringenson et al., 2018, Digitalization is about social life’s restructuring around
p. 1278 digital communication and media infrastructures.
Srai & Lorentz, 2019, Digitalization is defned as the way many domains of
pp. 78–98 social life are restructured around digital communication
and media infrastructures. In simple terms, digitalization
may be defned as the use of digital technologies.
Reis et al., 2020, Digitalization is the phenomenon of transforming analog
pp. 443–456 data into the digital language (i.e. digitization), which, in
turn, can improve business relationships between
customers and companies, bringing added value to the
whole economy and society.
DT has had a huge impact on many sectors, including logistics (Gulamov &
Shermukhamedov, 2018). There are many practical examples in the literature
of how digital technologies have revolutionized the functioning of this sector.
Among them, the following can be pointed out:
1) RFID and sensor technology—intelligent features that allow identifca-

tion, localization, communication, and sensing that will help optimize
fows (Vural et al., 2020);
2) cloud logistics—a mediator between modal and actor interfaces to elimi-
nate disruptions and facilitate interconnectivity (Haasis et al., 2015);
3) blockchain technology—a distributed database system that archives a
variety of transactions along with other information and organizes all the
data (Li et al., 2021);
4) big data—a large volume of data that is coming from different sources,
generated by humans or machines at a high velocity (Kubáč, 2016);
5) automation technology—technologies that replace manpower with
machine power in systems that control equipment and processes (Martín-
Soberón et al., 2014).
Importantly, the number and types of digital applications in logistics are

continuously increasing. However, it should be borne in mind that not all
functional areas of logistics (inventory management, warehousing, packag-
ing, transport) are supported to the same extent by digital technologies.
Only some authors present the effects of digitalization on transport (e.g.,
Kramers et al., 2018; Shaheen et al., 2020; Rodríguez et al., 2021). Very few
publications deal with the impact of DT on the road (e.g., Pernestål et al.,
2021), maritime (e.g., Sanchez-Gonzalez et al., 2019; Tijan et al., 2020), and air
transport (e.g., La et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021). Broadly speaking, the application
of digital technologies in the various modes of transport reduces human par-
ticipation, which in turn results in higher control of processes, standardization
of performance and service levels, minimization of uncertainty in response
times, and cost savings from operations and human errors (Martín-Soberón et
al., 2014).
Nevertheless, we can conclude that research in this area is still in its initial
stages. There is a lack of “theoretical and empirical work as well as alterna-
tive explanatory approaches for appropriate recommendations for action and
restructuring” (Fruth & Teuteberg, 2017, p. 3). The authors hope that this chap-
ter will be an interesting starting point for future research.
11.3 Methodology
The object was purposefully selected for research. The selected company
was established in 2019. It conducts activities related to the development and
delivery of software for handling transport documentation—the GreenTransit
system. The platform uses cloud-computing technology and is intended for
all entities in the supply chain. The selection of the previously mentioned
platform made it possible to achieve the set research purpose, which enables
the presentation of digitization in the road-transport process, including the
identifcation of benefts and threats.
The following data collection methods were used: The documentation
method, the diagnostic-survey method with the interview-questionnaire
technique, and participant observation. For this purpose, materials related
to the GreenTransit platform were used, such as system-design documen-

tation, pitch deck, information brochures, and in-house documents. The
interviews were conducted with the company’s employees and subcontrac-
tors providing services based on outsourcing. An important aspect of the
research was passive and active participation in the process of creating the
GreenTransit system and working on its implementation. This allowed iden-
tifying the most important functionalities and barriers of the system. The
following methods were used to present the research results: Descriptive,
graphical, and tabular.
11.4 Results
11.4.1 The Idea of the GreenTransit Platform
GreenTransit is a platform that supports the entire process of sharing data on
the goods-transport process. During the creation of the platform, cooperation
was established with the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing in Poznań, the
Polish Chamber of Commerce for Electronics and Telecommunications, the
Polish Road Transport Institute, and the GS1 Poland organization. On the basis
of a contract, the service provider provides paid electronic services for a fee
in the form of access to the GreenTransit platform. The services include the
following:
1) Circulation of all transport documents in electronic form without the

need to present them to control authorities in paper form;
2) exchange of information about transport, published by authorized users
of the GreenTransit platform, to provide the contractor with infor-
mation about transport and the provision of transport or forwarding
services,
3) adding derivative users (subaccounts for employees);
4) generating and uploading documents;
5) security of transmitted data;
6) signing documents in electronic form;
7) access to the user database.
The GreenTransit platform is available on the website. The frst registra-

tion concerns the user who creates the main company account that con-
tains the data with the National Court Register or the Central Register and
Information on Economic Activity. It is used to manage the company profle,

transport, and documents, as well as employee accounts. From the main
account and accounts with permissions, the administrator can add a subac-
count for employees with the administrator, dispatcher, driver, and ware-
houseman permissions. The functions available for the given employees are
presented in Table 11.2.
table 11.2 Functionalities Are Carried out by individual Actors.

Actors Functionalities
Administrator ◾ Adding accounts for employees;
◾ deletion of a subaccount;
◾ granting and changing user authorizations;
◾ changing account settings;
◾ adding a transport;
◾ adding contractors;
◾ sending and accepting invitations to cooperate;
◾ generating, editing, downloading, and viewing documentation;
◾ uploading PDF fles;
◾ signing documents using the GreenTransit system or SMS and
on-screen methods;
◾ adding and removing modes of transportation;
◾ checking and updating modes-of-transportation availability status;
◾ sharing links with access to a given transport;
◾ access to all transports created or sent in a given enterprise;
◾ ending of the transport process;
◾ redirection to the hotline.
Dispatcher ◾ Changing account settings;
on-screen methods;
◾ adding and removing modes of transportation;
◾ checking and updating modes-of-transportation availability status;
◾ providing links with access to a given transport;
◾ access to all shipments created or transmitted by the company;
◾ ending the transport process;
(Continued)
table 11.2 (Continued) Functionalities Are Carried out by individual Actors.

Actors Functionalities
Warehouseman ◾ Changing account settings;
◾ generating, editing, downloading, and viewing documentation,
on-screen methods;
◾ access to all shipments created or transmitted by the company;
Driver ◾ Changing account settings;
on-screen methods;
Source: Own elaboration based on the conducted research.
Figure 11.1 presents the functionalities of the system for individual entities that
may participate in the supply chain. The fgure shows the fow of information
between the elements of the transport system. The owner of the company cre-
ates accounts for himself and his employees. This enables control over the fow
of data to and from the enterprise. The information fowing from the forwarder
to the driver is related to the given order. The main goal of the plan to eliminate
paper documentation is to ensure the driver has the tools to confrm receipt and
delivery, and to control the shipping documents by the inspection services. The
sender and the recipient have the option of signing the documents; additionally,
the sender has the option of uploading their fles.
11.4.2 Benefts and Barriers Resulting from the Use of

Electronic Transport Documents in GreenTransit
The implementation of electronic circulation of transport documentation
brings several benefts. They are associated with a signifcant reduction in
administrative issues for logistics operators, which is associated with cost
O
Owner
• transmission of documents
• preview of documents
• adding users
• generating documents
• administration
Driver Forwarder
• generating transport
sending the address, • preview of documents
documents
delivery notes, • possibility of sending documents
• sending and signing
special attachments in PDF to the sender/recipient
documents
to the order • generating transport documents
• access to editing
• administration
comments
(forwarder in a transport company)
Recipient Sender
• signing documents
• signing documents • typing in comments
• typing in comments • uploading files to the system
• generating a delivery confirmation • generating a shipping document,
and damage report pallet/weight receipt
Figure 11.1 Authorizations for entities Participating in the transport implementation

Process.
reduction. An additional advantage is the reduction of the emission of harm-

ful substances to the environment resulting from the consumption of raw
materials, processes occurring in the phase of paper production, and then
wastepaper disposal. But most of all, the beneft is saving the employee’s time,
which he needs to handle documents in a paper version. Currently, paper
documentation is used during at least one stage of about 99% of cross-border
transport activities (European Commission, 2018). To calculate the savings

resulting from the management of transport documentation, the costs of two
situations were compared. Calculations of the costs of manual management
of transport documentation were made on the basis of a calculation model
prepared by Sira Consulting (2004). The stages of work related to shipping
management are: Filling in and checking the consignment note (e.g., CMR),
formatting and printing, checking the cargo upon receipt, entries in the letter
made by the driver, an inspection of the cargo upon receipt, acknowledgment
of receipt, and, fnally, archiving the documentation and sending it between
the parties to the contract of carriage. The following formula was used to cal-
culate the costs of individual processes:
Tn
Pn = *Y
60 min
where: Pn = cost of individual operations, Tn = operation of individual duration

(min), and
Y = average hourly labor cost.
Each action has a time taken to complete it according to a study by Sira
Consulting (Table 11.3). The average hourly labor cost needed to be extended
by the national averages and the costs incurred by the employer related to
keeping an employee. Based on the average salary in Poland in the fourth
quarter of 2020, the employer’s cost was PLN 40.72/hour (approximately EUR
9/hour).
Table 11.4 presents the case of documentation-handling costs with the use
of an electronic consignment note. Operations 1 and 2 do not occur because
the waybill is generated on the basis of the data from the system or the order.
Cargo control is the same as in the case of using the documentation in the
paper version. There is no transfer of evidence and archiving due to the elec-
tronic access to data by all participants of the transport process in real time.
Thus, the time needed for the service decreased from 23 to nine minutes,
which reduces the costs related to the handling of documentation from PLN
15.61(EUR 3.42) to PLN 6.11 (EUR 1.34).
Another advantage is the acceleration of payment deadlines by accessing
the original documents by the client immediately after the transport. It also
guarantees the security of stored data, quick access, and easy search. The
use of an electronic consignment note will also allow for greater hygiene at
work, as various germs and viruses can spread on paper transport documents
(Zaborowski, 2020).
table 11.3 Paper-Consignment-note Administration Costs.

Average Operation
Operation Time (T) Responsible labor cost cost (P )
number Operation name (min) person (Y)(h) (PLN)
1 Completion and 5.0 Employee 40.72 3.39
inspection of the
consignment note
2 Preparation and 1.0 Employee 40.72 0.68
printing of the
consignment note
3 Cargo control 4.0 Driver 40.72 2.71
4 Driver’s entries on the 0.5 Driver 40.72 0.34
consignment note
6 Confrmation of cargo 0.5 Driver 40.72 0.34
delivery
7 Send confrmation 5.0 Employee 40.72 3.39
8 Document archiving 3.0 Employee 40.72 2.04
Sum 23.0 Total cost 15.61
table 11.4 electronic-Consignment-note Administration Costs.

Average Operation
Operation Time (T) Responsible labor cost cost (P )
number Operation name (min) person (Y)(h) (PLN)
1 Completion and 0.0 GreenTransit 0.0 0.0
inspection of the system
consignment note
2 Preparation and 0.0 GreenTransit 0.0 0.0
printing of the system
consignment note
4 Driver’s entries on the 0.5 Driver 40.72 0.34
consignment note
6 Confrmation of cargo 0.5 Driver 40.72 0.34
delivery
7 Send confrmation 0.0 GreenTransit 0.00 0.0
system
8 Document archiving 0.0 GreenTransit 0.00 0.0
system
Sum 9.0 Total cost 6.11
The use of the GreenTransit system allows company owners to control their
expenses. Receivables are charged for documents generated or uploaded to
the system (PLN 0.5 per document, i.e., approximately EUR 0.11), and payment
is made only after the end of the month. It is a cheaper option compared, for
example, to the MobiCarnet platform (the platform was created on the initia-
tive of the Ministry of Finance of Estonia). As far as this platform is concerned,
generating an e-CMR document costs EUR 0.30 per document; there is also a
monthly fxed fee of EUR 50 (MobiCarnet, 2021).
In addition, the system facilitates the organization of work. All documents
are grouped and assigned to one transport, thanks to which one can fnd
documents relating to a given transport very quickly. In addition, the system
is transparent, compatible with the systems currently used in transport and
warehouse companies. It works on tablets, phones, and computers.
One of the barriers to the development of electronic transport documen-
tation in Poland and the use of the GrrenTransit system is the low level of
innovation of enterprises. Polish entrepreneurs consider the implementation
of innovations to be too capital-intensive and risky (Borowy et al., 2020). In
addition, the fragmentation of the Polish transport industry poses a major
challenge in implementing e-CMR. The benefts will be noticeable only when
all entities in the supply chain use integrated documentation-digitization
systems.
The second barrier is the fragmentation of legal acts in the EU countries.
Therefore, it is necessary to standardize the control process as well as the
required documents in international transport.
Another diffculty is the number of technological solutions used by com-
panies in the transport-shipping-logistics (TSL) industry. In order to use an
electronic consignment note and automate this process, there is a need to
integrate the programs used or create a standard that allows data to be sent
in a structured fle. To this end, companies should invest in implementing
information and communication platforms (e-FTI).
One of the barriers may also be training employees in the use of the new
platform. According to the research conducted by the Polish Road Transport
Institute (2021), as many as 63% of the surveyed logisticians and 79% of for-
warders flled out the consignment note manually. However, if the CMR con-
signment note is flled out on a computer, it is usually done with the user’s
own software; in such cases, Offce, enterprise-resource planning (ERP), or
transport-management systems (TMS) are most often used. It is worth men-
tioning that over 80% of the surveyed employees expressed an opinion that
using the e-CMR will result in fewer errors and shorten the time of flling in
and handling the consignment note. Unfortunately, only 79% of logisticians,

51% of forwarders, and 63% of drivers expressed their willingness to work
with the electronic consignment note, i.e., e-CMR. Thus, it is quite a signifcant
barrier to the introduction of electronic transport documents.
11.5 Discussion
11.5.1 Contributions
Our study makes several contributions, both theoretical and practical. Firstly,
the case study on the GreenTransit platform allowed us to indicate the benefts
and barriers to the development of the electronic consignment note. Secondly,
to our knowledge, there is no such detailed description of the functional-
ity of such solutions in the literature. Moreover, many authors (e.g., Fruth &
Teuteberg, 2017; Poliak & Tomicová, 2020) emphasize that there is a need for
further research on the introduction of digitization-based solutions to improve
transport processes.
11.5.2 Limitations
The limitations of the conducted research are related to the adopted research
methodology. In the theoretical section of the chapter, the authors omitted
some studies that could have been signifcant for some researchers with regard
to digitization in transport. When selecting the literature, the authors consid-
ered availability and the reputation of a journal or publishing house to be of
key importance. Moreover, an empirical section was prepared using the case
study. The case study also has some weaknesses. The results concern only
one platform for the digitization of documentation in transport. Therefore, it is
not possible to generalize the results to a wider population.
11.5.3 Future Research Directions

The mentioned limitations also indicate further research directions. Firstly,
studies on database security and the number of errors in data transmission
between enterprises can be carried out to further analyze this issue. Secondly,
an interesting direction of research could be to examine the problems aris-
ing from the implementation of such solutions in the supply chain. Thirdly,
research can be carried out on the real benefts of introducing electronic
documents and calculating the profts for enterprises. Another interesting

study could be the recognition of opinions about users’ trust in this type of
solution.
11.6 Conclusions
This study attempts to determine the impact of the digitization of shipping
documents on the information-fow processes in the supply chain usings
the example of the GreenTransit system. The GreenTransit platform, created
for companies from the logistics industry, enables data exchange between
entities in the supply chain. The designed functionalities allow companies
to add many different contractors to one transport so that each of them has
access to documents in real time. Various types of permissions allow one to
set access for employees depending on their positions and responsibilities.
An additional improvement is the lack of the need for archiving, because
all data is stored for fve years with the option to change the period in the
settings. The system allows users to sign documents using the platform and
confrm them with a PIN code, a signature on the screen of a mobile device
and a code sent to a telephone number. Each of these options allows the
identity of the signer to be verifed and, therefore, is recognized in court
disputes.
Digitization facilitates the fow of information between entities participating
in the performance of the contract. This leads to signifcant savings in con-
nection with the employee’s working time needed to prepare, service, and
archive transport documentation. The results of the research showed that the
remuneration on this account decreased by over 60%. The use of an electronic
consignment note also has a positive effect on the natural environment by
reducing the consumption of paper and the emission of carbon dioxide gener-
ated during its production.
One problem is the fragmentation of legal standards as each EU coun-
try has to adapt its rules to allow procedures to be put in place to control
e-CMR. However, the key thing, as it turned out in the case of Poland, is to
start work on introducing technological solutions that would enable verifca-
tion of the presented data. Another aspect is the integration of systems used
in the TSL industry. There are many ERP, TMS, WMS, etc., systems on the
market that are used in enterprises. The exchange of information between
them is a key issue to automate the process of sending documentation and
related data.
The authors believe that this study is intended to serve as a basis and
starting point for further discussion. Thus, digitalization in transport requires
extensive research, especially empirical.
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Chapter 12
Going Green: the effects

of Decarbonization
on Container-Shipping
Companies’ Competitiveness
Leonardo Lovričić, Helga Pavlić Skender,
Contents
12.1 Introduction..........................................................................................266
12.2 Theoretical Background ......................................................................267
12.2.1 International Maritime Organization (IMO) ..........................268
12.2.2 Paris Agreement .....................................................................268
12.3 Materials and Methods.........................................................................270
12.4 Research Results and Discussion ........................................................270
12.4.1 Green Fuels ............................................................................272
a) Fuel-Production Scaling..................................................274
b) Fuel Infrastructure ..........................................................274
c) Safety Concerns...............................................................274
d) The Proftability Impacts ................................................275
12.4.2 Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre for Zero Carbon
Shipping..................................................................................275
12.4.3 ECO Delivery Product............................................................277
12.4.4 Decarbonizing Footprint ........................................................278
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-15 265

12.4.5 Star Connect .............................................................................280

12.4.6 Emissions Dashboard...............................................................280
12.4.7 Carbon-Neutral Vessel..............................................................281
12.5 Conclusion ...........................................................................................282
References.......................................................................................................283
12.1 introduction
While decarbonization is still far from being implemented across all indus-
tries, maritime shipping companies are the most likely to have made the leap
towards its adoption, as they are the backbone of international trade. There is
a great deal of interest in research circles on topics related to decarbonization,
its implementation, and the impact on businesses and the economy. According
to the Web of Science (2022) database, more than 40 research papers on decar-
bonization in the maritime industry were published from 2019 to 2022 alone.
However, given the increasing importance of decarbonization, especially in
light of ongoing economic shocks such as the post-COVID-19 era, high energy
prices, European energy dependence, etc., there is a signifcant gap in the
literature addressing the actual identifcation of the impact of decarbonization
in the maritime industry, the necessary processes of its implementation, and
best practices. Therefore, in this paper, both the opportunities and challenges
were identifed to answer the biggest question—how to remain competitive
and market-relevant while adapting to the new environmental conditions.
Theoretical and applied factors were analyzed and discussed with the aim
of identifying the benefts of implementing an environmentally sustainable
business model and its impact on shipping companies. Although the research
was largely based on a case study with limited information details obtained
through Internet research and the interview with A.P. Moller-Maersk employ-
ees, the results are encouraging and show the desired outcome—an overview
of an adapted sustainable business model in relation to environmental regula-
tions and market demands. In addition, the results of the analysis indicate that
reducing greenhouse gasses is a challenge for the container-shipping industry
and the competitiveness of shipping companies, but the right business model
will allow them to remain competitive in the market. We also concluded that
the concept of green and sustainable logistics is already being implemented
due to the greenhouse gas regulation declared by IMO. Although there is a
signifcant cost associated with future expansion, the benefts of doing so are
far greater from a business-parameter perspective. Internal green practices
increase the competitiveness of companies by enabling them to provide a
Going Green: Container-Shipping Companies ◾ 267
contemporary sustainable end-to-end logistics service at the highest level of

customer satisfaction and internal effectiveness. As detailed company reports
and fnancial statements are required for a full analysis of competitiveness,
this data is for internal use only, so understanding the full cost-effective back-
ground of the decarbonization journey could be challenging, but the general
summary and basic initiatives can be easily outlined.
This chapter consists of fve interrelated sections. Section 2 presents the
theoretical background of the sustainable initiatives of IMO and the Paris
Agreement. Section 3 presents the materials and methods of the research.
Section 4 presents the fndings of the Maersk case study. Section 5 presents
the concluding remarks and contribution of the research.
12.2 theoretical Background

As the world evolves and changes every day, especially in the last century,
there is one thing that has a certain outcome: It is the negative impact on
the environment that is becoming inevitable nowadays. Maritime transport
is the most common way of transporting goods in the world, with container
transport accounting for 70% to 80%. Considering this fact, the impact on the
global environment through gas emissions, more specifcally greenhouse-gas
emissions, is immense, and new standardized regulations to minimize such
shipping emissions have become mandatory today. There are many research
papers dealing with decarbonization in the maritime industry (Psaraftis, 2019;
Mallouppas & Yfantis, 2021; Halim et al., 2018; Romano & Yang, 2021; Farkas
et al., 2021; Stopford, 2022), in which the importance of implementing decar-
bonization in the maritime industry and the relevance of this research area
are consistent.
While carriers with a great sense of environmental sustainability have a
competitive advantage, it also comes at a price. There are already certain cli-
mate targets, such as the net-zero target, the carbon-neutral target, the zero-
carbon target, and the Paris target. The most important target for shipping
companies is the Paris target, based on which the IMO has proposed mari-
time standards (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, 2021).
The sustainable initiatives, combined with modern trends such as automation
and digitalization that help with traceability and transparency when it comes
to the global-emissions footprint, form the basis for a competitive advantage
in a ferce market run by a few big players. To adhere to both the UN and
IMO pathway to mitigate CO2 and other GHG emissions, as well as overall
decarbonization, strategic partnerships and market collaboration are required,

despite the obvious differences between value-chain participants. Based on
guidelines provided by regulatory and governance bodies, market response
and further implementation of decarbonized green logistics processes should
be timely and cost-effective, as this matter affects everyone; not only business
owners, related stakeholders, authorities, and value-chain partners, but all of
humanity.
12.2.1 International Maritime Organization (IMO)

As the principal organization for international maritime trade and the body
that regulates the terms of shipping, the IMO’s contribution to the global fght
against climate change is enormous. As the extended arm of the UN, when
it comes to climate change, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, which
aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other greenhouse gasses, was
implemented immediately after the adoption of CO2 reduction policy and
decisive steps based on the international shipping industry. In 2018, IMO
adopted an initial strategy to reduce GHG emissions, with the further goal of
fully decarbonizing shipping (International Maritime Organization, 2021). The
strategy was divided into three different segments, but with the same goal:
1) Short-Term Actions—from 2018–2023;

2) Mid-Term Actions—from 2023–2030;
3) Long-Term Actions—beyond 2030.
The main objective of the IMO GHG strategy was to reduce global CO2 emis-
sions by 40% by 2030, with the further intention of reducing them by 70% by
2050 compared to 2008 levels, while reducing other GHG emissions by at least
50% by 2050 (International Maritime Organization, 2021). These can be con-
sidered basic guidelines based on which the member states are operating and
working towards the same goal. The revised strategy is expected to be adopted
in 2023, with the expected milestone being the collected data of 5,000 ships
based on fuel consumption and emission dating back to 2019.
12.2.2 Paris Agreement

In the period from 30 November to 12 December 2015, the Conference of
the Parties 21 was held in Paris, based on the UNFCCC—UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change—with the main objective of reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions (Falkner, 2016). The reduction of greenhouse-

gas emissions is to prevent human degradation of the environment, while
in addition to the aforementioned goal, the main goal is to limit the raise of
global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with the
future intention of limiting the global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius (The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2019). Furthermore, the environ-
mental treaty signed by 195 countries aims to support and assist all countries
around the world with climate change and challenges, while strengthening
climate resilience and keeping socioeconomic foundations intact (The United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2021). Looking at the
treaty from the perspective of international trade, especially from the position
of the maritime sector itself and the legally binding nature of the agreement
(Bodansky, 2016), taking into account the global impact of maritime transport
and its effects on both the global economy and the global climate, the treaty
was seen as a challenging opportunity.
From the outset of the negotiations, the shipping industry has been
excluded at the country level, acting through its own regulatory body, which
in this case is the IMO—the International Maritime Organization, the crown
body for regulating the conditions of international shipping. Between 9 and
13 April 2018, the 72nd session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) was held, where the frst guidelines and strategy for the
implementation of the Paris Agreement were adopted, aimed at reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions from ships and, by extension, shipping itself. While
the IMO reaffrmed its commitment to reduce GHG emissions, the reduction
of the same is inevitable and marked as an urgent environmental task to be
achieved within this century. The 2050 target to reduce GHG emissions by
at least 50% from 2008 levels, with the further intention of decarbonization,
should be addressed immediately (The United Nations Global Compact, 2018)
and limit fossil-fuel consumption to below a quarter of total consumption
by 2100 (Walsh et al., 2017). The previous MEPC meeting, held from 24 to
28 October 2016, resulted in the IMO 2020 Strategy, which aimed to reduce
the sulphur content in the fuel used by ships. These two sessions, combined
with the IMO’s evident commitment to ensuring that shipping meets its envi-
ronmental obligations, can easily be described as a signifcant step towards
decarbonized logistics, the main aim of which is to enrich both the global
economy and the health of humanity.
Green logistics means sustainable development when it comes to shipping,
so the decarbonizing driver is the main task that must be accomplished to
meet the environmental commitments made. While A.P. Moller-Maersk remains
fully committed to the Group’s intention and ambition to not only reduce but
eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions, the company is working towards achiev-
ing the milestone of “net-zero emissions” through its maritime operations. As
a signifcant 60% reduction in emissions from shipping compared to 2008 lev-
els is likely to be achieved by 2030, net-zero emissions from the entire supply
chain are the main driver that should cover all emissions aspects of the value
chain (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).

For this research, a combination of case-study and interview method was
used, with limited online access through Internet research for targeted data.
In addition, secondary data from A.P. Moller-Maersk Group’s public envi-
ronmental sustainability report was used to complement feedback from an
interview with the sustainability development manager and the sustainabil-
ity analyst on the intention to decarbonize business and on the Group’s
strategy to reduce emissions from international shipping. Due to the long
distance between the colleagues interviewed, the interview was conducted
via online platforms with a particular focus on Sustainability Report 2020 to
gain a broader understanding and knowledge of the data presented, which
in combination with the case study resulted in an amazing overview of the
decarbonization journey.

For A.P. Moller-Maersk, climate commitment and environmental sustainabil-
ity measures are a strategic imperative, so the group has been reorganized
accordingly to adhere to the environmental commitment and ensure that the
necessary collaboration is in place across different business activities (A.P.
Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
As shown in Figure 12.1 below, the main target is a 60% reduction in CO2
emissions and a carbon-neutral ship in its operations by 2030, while a net-
zero operation overall is targeted by 2050, highlighting the Group’s continued
progress ineffciency and the possibility of implementing net-zero solutions
toward net-zero emissions in shipping throughout the timeframe proposed by
the regulators and supervisors.
Net-zero vessels in Net-zero CO2 emissions

60% relative reduction in (from own ocean
operation (commercially
CO2 emissions from operations + adjusted
viable net-zero vessels /
shipping (compared to value chain with reduced
fleet supporting
2008 levels)
international trade) emissions)
2030 2050
Figure 12.1 A.P. Moller-Maersk Decarbonization Action Plan.

Source: Authors’ elaboration.
2020 was the key year when it came to decarbonization efforts. As the
Group is labeled as an industry leader, pole position comes at a certain cost—
in this case, that would be environmental obligations and associated duties, so
the extra mile needs to be pushed to decarbonize business processes across
the value chain. Decarbonization is the main goal when it comes to reduc-
ing GHG emissions (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2019),
and there are several approaches to achieving this milestone. To reduce GHG
emissions and eventually eliminate them completely, several approaches can
be taken, from installing scrubbers to switching fuel use, to fully implement-
ing new net-zero fuel techniques, and installing appropriate engines.
As the most important short-term goal is still to reduce CO2 by 60% com-
pared to 2008 levels, the following graphs show Maersk’s ambitions toward
decarbonized shipping. The calculations are based on both the EEOI (Energy
Effciency Operational Indicator 2008) and the gCO2/ton-nm principle. While
the EEOI formula has been updated and both the old and new versions have
been used in the calculation, the new one shows even better performance in
comparison and will continue to be used. The new calculation shows a higher
value for the actual effciency in gCO2/ton-nm, which is consistent with the
fact that a higher CO2 reduction has been achieved, relative to the base year
2008 (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
While the only acceptable long-term solution is decarbonization itself,
smaller steps must be taken to achieve the main goal. While scrubbers
and transitional fuels are currently the best solutions, they come at a high
cost. Maersk has decided to leap to a carbon-neutral solution, which means
implementing net-zero emissions operations and procedures (A.P. Moller-
Maersk, 2020a). As mentioned earlier, net-zero solutions are currently pos-
sible through the use of alternative fuels with appropriate technologies for
the propulsion, innovation, and ultimately operation of such fuels, so decar-
bonization currently depends on peer drive and push towards the discovery
of new so-called green fuels with appropriate engine adaptations that need
to be implemented to successfully continue with the emissions reduction and
decarbonization journey without restricting international trade and maritime
transport. Considering that decarbonization cannot be achieved at all indus-
try levels if maritime shipping is the only factor to adapt to environmental
constraints, being one of the biggest contributors to climate change, every
other aspect of logistics services based on an end-to-end solution must fol-
low the ambitions of maritime shipping to achieve the ultimate goal of such
international strategies.
12.4.1 Green Fuels

Based on the analyses carried out on numerous fuel technologies within the
Maersk Group in recent years, four of them are mature enough to be pur-
sued further. Throughout the deselection process, biomethane and liquefed
natural gas, fuel cells, nuclear power, and onboard carbon capture have been
abandoned due to concerns about one or more steps in the fuel conversion
process. Biomethane and liquefed natural gas had high levels of methane
emissions, while the overall investment resulted in marginal reductions in
CO2 emissions. For example, fuel cells have high production costs, which
means they are not ready to be effciently produced on a large scale (A.P.
Moller-Maersk, 2020a). Due to environmental regulations, Maersk has decided
to move directly to true net-zero-emission technologies, as transitional fuels
and alternative technologies do not lead to a favorable outcome compared to
decarbonized ones. More detailed information on the four priority fuels can
be found in Table 12.1.
To achieve the decarbonization milestone, fuel transformation involves a
supply chain in which tasks must be evenly distributed. Due to this fact, there
table 12.1 Four Priority Fuels for net-Zero Shipping.

Fuel Key advantages Key limitations/risks
Biodiesel Can be used as drop-in Limited availability of biomass
fuel in existing vessels feedstock triggers scalability
and engines. challenge.
There is a signifcant price pressure
due to high demand from competing
industries.
Methanol Already in operation Bio-methanol: Scalability challenged
(bio-methanol and used as marine fuel. by uncertainty by biomass
e-methanol) Liquid at normal availability.
conditions. E-methanol: Availability of biogenic
Existing engines and CO2 source at production site, cost
handling well known. and maturity of electrolysis
technology.
Lignin fuels Potentially the most In development stage, production
(biomass residue price-competitive needs to be scaled up in order to
and alcohols) net-zero fuel with the create new value chain and
lowest price estimate, infrastructure for supply. Engine
almost on a pair with requirements would be the same as for
fossil fuels. methanol, but additional contaminant-
handling might be required.
Ammonia (green Fully zero-emission There are signifcant safety and
ammonia) fuel and can be toxicity challenges, as well as
produced at scale infrastructure challenges at ports.
from renewable Furthermore, cost depends on the
electricity alone. future cost of electricity and cost/
maturity of electrolysis technology.
Source: Authors’ elaboration.
are still many obstacles that need to be overcome to execute a smooth fuel
transformation from start to fnish.
As mentioned above, numerous doubts and questions arise when it comes
to the implementation of alternative fuels. Looking briefy at it, frst of all,
the biggest question mark remains on the availability of raw materials and
their price, as well as the sustainability factor. If the analysis shows a positive
answer to these questions, the implementation can proceed to the second
of eight phases shown in Table 12.1. While production effciency is impor-
tant, transportation and storage, as well as port storage, is one of the most
important logistics segments of the fuel supply chain, where proper handling
and a smooth transition are very important to meet the highest environmental
standards. The ffth phase raises many safety issues as bunkering is consid-
ered particularly harmful to the health of both humans and other environ-
mental ecosystems with its sulphur emissions during the bunkering process
and its very high toxicity and harmful characteristics. If all fve aspects are
met, the last three segments can be described as the shipping companies’
efforts to fully implement the use of alternative fuels, making both fuel sys-
tems and ship engines the key factors when it comes to reducing emissions
and decarbonization itself. As complicated as it is, none of the problems can
be solved simply, so the following pages explain each threat in more detail.
Challenges can be divided into four major groups:
a) Fuel-Production Scaling
This has a lot to do with the closely related technology currently available on
the market since the main obstacle to net-zero-emission ships is the unavail-
ability of such fuel production on a large scale. This fact was the main reason
for Maersk joining methanol and ammonia production projects and the LEO
Coalition Foundation (lignin-ethanol oil), which focuses mainly on lignin and
ethanol fuel production, together with its partners who are leaders in their
respective businesses, such as Wallenius Wilhelmsen, BMW Group, H&M,
Levi Strauss & Co., and Marks & Spencer. The LEO coalition, in combination
with other fuel projects, aims to provide the power for Maersk Group’s feet,
although fuel price may still be an obstacle to overcome (A.P. Moller-Maersk,
2020a). Acceptance will certainly mature over the years, but it is a process that
will take time before we can talk about scaling green fuel production.
b) Fuel Infrastructure
Currently, there are no fueling infrastructure or fuel-supply-chain techniques
that can handle net-zero-fuel transformations.
c) Safety Concerns
As described in Table 12.1, both methanol and ethanol are highly fammable
substances, and this needs to be addressed before they can be used as opera-
tional fuels. In the case of ammonia, its toxicity is paramount, as there are
still no suitable solutions for transport, bunkering, and operation as a pure
marine fuel. The same applies to Maersk Mc-Kinney Centre, which is briefy
described later in the text.
d) The Proftability Impacts

Green intentions with a particular commitment to decarbonization impact the
cost picture, but at Maersk, the view is that the competitive advantage arising
from such measures outweighs the costs and risks associated with the journey.
12.4.2 Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre

for Zero Carbon Shipping
Maersk launched the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre for Zero Carbon
Shipping in 2020, primarily through the group’s major shareholder, A.P. Moller
Foundation (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2021b). The research center itself, in con-
junction with a bunch of industry champions, represents a signifcant step
forward for environmental tasks and represents the strong commitments that
the Group has previously acknowledged. Moreover, this intention will help
A.P. Moller-Group to grow while helping its partners and customers to decar-
bonize their own logistics solutions end-to-end. Maersk’s strategy implies that
they will serve their customers’ supply chains and work with both partners
and customers when it comes to market standards and solutions to complete
green logistics (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
Working towards green solutions means that the Group is strengthening its
responsible business practices, which further consolidates its market position
as they are the foundations on which the Group operates. The challenges that
arise throughout the operations and value chain are handled and addressed
with the utmost care, guided by the Group’s core values and its commitment to
all stakeholders in the international shipping chain, from the environment itself,
to investors, regulators, stakeholders, employees, and customers, with green
logistics and sustainability being the main drivers. (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
Every year, 300 million tons of fuel are consumed by 70,000 ships world-
wide, making the shipping industry responsible for 3% of total global CO2
emissions. To meet the maritime standards that have been introduced,
the industry is expected to invest more than $6 trillion in the fght against
greenhouse-gas emissions over the next few decades. The Centre itself is
a non-proft, independent research-and-development center that provides
industry-wide solutions to transition to net-zero shipping (A.P. Moller-Maersk,
2020b). It can also be considered a climate action that aims at high-effciency
environmental sustainability and implements decarbonized green-logistics

solutions from end to end. As mentioned earlier, decarbonization is the vision
of Maersk Mc-Kinney Centre, with a specifc mission to be the driving force
in the industry toward greener shipping. The Centre operates on a founda-
tion of specialized knowledge based on industry-wide reach, combined with
a research-and-development department that drives technology solutions and
strategic guidance for net-zero transformation (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020b). In
2020, the world has seen that a simplifed and unifed supply chain equals a
winning strategy. In contrast, decoupled value chains, autarky, and protection-
ism represent a fawed strategy as digitalization and automation, combined
with business openness, signify consistency in the current uncertain world.
Maintaining the vital fow of supply with an aspect of innovation and growth
in these times is challenging to say the least, but for Maersk Group this has
been an opportunity to defne its leadership position while nourishing its
business operations along with its green footprint. It can be concluded that
climate change and climate action is a social and business imperative, a collec-
tive challenge that can be overcome by a collective act of supply-chain trans-
formation with technological innovation, policy support, and strengthening
the resilience of sustainable value chains through uncertain times (Hermwille
et al., 2019). Decarbonization is thoroughly implemented in this group as it
is a strategic imperative nowadays, especially for companies of this size and
with such a signifcant industry reach. Looking at the current trends related
to the green journey, some of them underline the urgency of decarboniza-
tion activities. The frst is the idea of a logistics company without a proper
decarbonization action plan, which means it risks becoming irrelevant in the
market. The gap created by the lack of activity in the green-logistics segment
creates increased costs for their partners and customers, as they will be the
ones without the ability to weave this inadequate support into their offering.
Maersk as an industry leader must lead the carbon-journey curve. The follow-
ing trend correlates closely with the reality of climate change, and it represents
policy. Slowly but gradually, supported by science as well as extreme envi-
ronmental outbreaks and pressure from stakeholders, numerous mechanisms
and disclosure requirements based on CO2 emissions are being enacted to
provide the basic framework for the shipping business. This can be seen as
a government incentive to adopt environmental regulations in every aspect
of human life. While taxes and similar pricing mechanisms partially mitigate
the fnancial risk of climate change for companies, Maersk strongly supports
the adoption of standardized CO2 pricing systems, and the Group’s mission
and vision can easily be concluded with a fully transparent collaboration
between decarbonized logistics intent, sustainability adjustments in the end-

to-end offering, and responsible business practices as a whole. Green logistics
is a modern name for sustainable-supply-chain values and practices, and can
be elaborated as corporate activities with the main intention of contributing
to improvement and ultimately benefting individuals, communities, and the
environment. The traceability of such intentions is the basis on which the
ecological footprint is calculated and the positive impact on the environment
is paramount to sustainable development. All of this contributes to the notion
of the low-carbon economy, where the trend towards controlled and reduced
emissions with sustainability as the primary factor in business practices is the
cornerstone of the UN path to net-zero emissions.
12.4.3 ECO Delivery Product

So far, Maersk has partnered with Maersk Mc-Kinney Centre to launch ECO
Delivery. It was launched in 2019 and is still one of the few carbon-neutral trans-
port solutions on the market (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a). Transitional fuels are
currently not fully in line with green logistics as they do not enable carbon-neu-
tral shipping and are not yet manufactured, so biodiesel processed from waste
cooking oil remains the best fuel alternative on the market. Biodiesel powers
the Maersk feet’s vessels to save CO2 emissions, and its uptake at launch has
far exceeded the Group’s expectations. Although the ECO Delivery product only
covers a minority of the total containers shipped, the product is very promising
and currently, key customers are considering the option to switch all their ship-
ments to ECO Delivery. Maersk’s ECO Delivery product plays a key role in this.
To reach the decarbonization milestone, a much larger number of participating
customers is needed, as the transition to decarbonization should be supported
by overall demand and willingness to scale net-zero emissions, as well as inter-
national cooperation (Roelfsema et al., 2020).
Modern trends of urgent climate action, increased willingness to pay for
sustainability, and market participants’ desire to go the extra mile in adopting
green solutions make the global market open to price volatility. Every aspect
of the aforementioned commodity market contributes to the development of
decarbonized solutions, which lowers the risk that transportation companies,
in this case, A.P. Moller-Maersk, take when investing in research and devel-
opment for decarbonization. Aligned with the needs of customers and their
ambitions for decarbonizing, Maersk has introduced a multivariate value prop-
osition for green logistics that is helping to develop the sustainable market
of the future. As one of the largest assets of responsible business practices,
combined with others, ECO Delivery Product is gaining big momentum with
its biodiesel use when it comes to reducing unwanted gas emissions in inter-
national shipping.
12.4.4 Decarbonizing Footprint

The Maersk Group’s efforts are aimed at full decarbonization, so the main
challenge, in addition to operational and technical aspects, remains balanc-
ing customer needs, stakeholder requirements, and overall Group emissions
with the development of a sustainable, effcient, and green value chain with
a decarbonized end-to-end solution (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a). The largest
share of emissions comes from Maersk’s maritime activities, with the curve
expected to slowly move towards inland solutions and transportation.
The second-largest share comes from supply-chain activities, where the
Group is largely dependent on its vendors and suppliers, so the aforemen-
tioned collaboration between all participants in the supply chain is a must
when talking about green logistics.
The smallest part of the emissions comes from purchased electricity,
which is also on Maersk’s account. Net-zero solutions need to be embedded
throughout the value chain, which includes end-to-end solutions from sea
transport to land transport and warehousing to digitized solutions if a posi-
tive footprint is to be left. While Maersk has the largest ownership of its sea
assets, the land part will require a slightly different approach as there is lim-
ited operational control over the assets which offer a different solution than
at sea (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
Collaboration, cooperation, and willingness to act together will be the
main driver for the transformation of the shipping industry, therefore Maersk
Group is working on integrating environmental sustainability into the pro-
curement criteria in tenders (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a). As mentioned ear-
lier, despite competitiveness or different business strategies, a partnership
between peers in the supply chain is the main driver when it comes to col-
lective response and mutual ambition, i.e., mutual support is much needed
if a positive impact on the global environment is to be achieved. Moreover,
the compliance and commitment of all market participants are inevitable and
must be followed in the coming years if the proposed path is to be achieved
and a new market is developed.
As shown in Figure 12.2, the majority of A.P. Moller-Maersk’s carbon foot-
print comes from its operations, 64% in total. Emissions in this group come
from the group’s fnancially controlled operations, while 96% of total Scope 1
Figure 12.2 A.P. Moller-Maersk Co2 Footprint.

Source: A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a
emissions in 2020 come directly from bunker fuel. The vast majority of total
emissions within owned operations are from marine transportation, although
this statistic will change as land transportation increases and the logistics and
services portfolios expand.
The carbon footprint from value-chain activities is divided into fve dif-
ferent material segments, such as upstream transportation and distribution,
purchased goods and services, use of sold products, fuel- and energy-related
activities, and capital goods (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a). It is important to
note that under Scope 3, the emissions considered for a calculation come
from business activities in the value chain, as well as emissions from cargo
transported under a ship-sharing agreement. As Maersk has a signifcant
share of assets in the deep-sea segment, in the frst scope, the company has
a leading position in the decarbonization journey related to deep-sea activi-
ties and international maritime trade. Considering that inland activities will
increase in the future and the structure of inland activities is somewhat dif-
ferent from maritime activities, A.P. Moller-Maersk will have limited opera-
tional control over inland assets, making the company highly dependent
on logistics partners. The same is true for the higher level of collaboration
required for end-to-end decarbonized logistics, and traceability between all
participants in the value chain is critical for environmental sustainability and

carrier competitiveness.
The second area shows emissions based on electricity consumption, which
is related to A.P. Moller-Maersk’s global locations, as the Group, as an elec-
tricity consumer, is partly responsible for how much electricity is used daily.
Even though this area accounts for less than 1%, it is still signifcant when
calculating the overall carbon footprint. As mentioned previously, the inclu-
sion of environmental sustainability in procurement criteria in strategic part-
nerships and tenders is inevitable when it comes to emission reduction and
decarbonization.
12.4.5 Star Connect

In addition to the aforementioned actions taken by A.P. Moller-Maersk to
achieve decarbonization, there are numerous tools and aids used within the
group to identify potential risks to help with the day-to-day intention of reduc-
ing GHG emissions and ultimately decarbonizing shipping. The most impor-
tant of these is the Star Connect monitoring system, which is implemented in
all the Group’s vessels and helps to understand engine effciency and calculate
the most convenient sea voyage. It works on the principle of displaying real-
life data visible to seafarers, who can instantly adapt to suggestions and new
routes as needed, leading to CO2 reduction and better fuel effciency (A.P.
Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
A similar system is found on the Group’s chartered vessels, which in turn
helps with standby utilization and workfow optimization. Despite the above
facts, the greatest need remains to be continued research and development
into new fuels, implementation of modern engine technologies, and energy
effciency.
12.4.6 Emissions Dashboard

Maersk will implement Emissions Dashboard, a digital solution that will help
consolidate emissions data across all transportation modes and help its cus-
tomers establish a baseline and fnd opportunities to optimize their own emis-
sions footprint. Overall, Emissions Dashboard is an analytical tool that gives
customers a detailed overview of their carbon footprint, regardless of whether
they transport their goods by ship or any other mode of transportation (A.P.
Moller-Maersk, 2021a). The main purpose behind such a dashboard lies in
the idea of complete transparency and visibility when it comes to emissions
footprints, which should encourage customers to move forward with their

decarbonization journey. The emissions dashboard works based on the GLEC
(Global Logistics Emissions Council—a globally accepted methodology for
emissions calculations) methodology, used to calculate emissions data. It is
important to note that it also includes data from all other carriers, not just
Maersk, that are involved in the end-to-end supply chain. This type of report-
ing is of great importance as the information obtained from it can be used in
the company’s sustainability reporting (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2021a).
So far, the tool has been used by the Group’s 100 largest customers, mainly
those that have already developed and implemented clear policies for decar-
bonization actions in their value chains. The aim is to make it available to
every single customer, which for Maersk is an indispensable part of its global-
sustianability commitment and environmental duty when it comes to green
logistics. Tracking CO2 emissions in international trade and shipping is a
key aspect of controlling CO2 emissions when it comes to reducing them
temporarily and mitigating them completely in the long term. As CO2 plays
a crucial role in biological processes, it has key properties when it comes to
radiative transfer as well as its contribution to total greenhouse-gas emissions
worldwide. The ability to get a clear view of the CO2 footprint can lead to
concrete mapping of the supply chain, as well as verifcation of the data and
procurement of the expertise needed to implement the know-how to achieve
decarbonization.
12.4.7 Carbon-Neutral Vessel

Due to increased customer demand, technological advances, and strong col-
laboration between peers involved in numerous projects, Maersk plans to
launch its frst, but more importantly, the world’s frst, carbon-neutral ship in
2023, meaning the group’s intentions have been accelerated by seven years, in
line with its original plan to have a carbon-neutral liner by 2030. Thereafter,
all new buildings owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk will be equipped with dual-
fuel technology, which will allow the vessels to run on either carbon-neutral
or very-low-sulphur-fuel oil (VLSFO) (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a).
The most interesting thing about the carbon-neutral ship is the fact that
it will run on methanol and have a capacity of about 2,000 twenty-foot con-
tainers (TEU) while operating on the intra-regional network. As mentioned
before, the ship will be equipped with a twin engine and will be able to run
on VLSFO, but the idea is to run it on e-methanol or bio-methanol from the
frst day of deployment in a carbon-neutral way (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2021b).
As mentioned in the frst part of this chapter, the biggest challenge remains
the proper supply of large-scale carbon-neutral methanol before the vessel’s
deployment, as well as the fuel supply chain, to adequately advance such a
technology. Given the partnership with those responsible for fuel production
and fuel-technology development, as well as with key collaborator Maersk
Mc-Kinney Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping, which is active in numerous
industries that support the development and implementation of new energy
systems and technologies, the carbon-neutral ship is an achievable goal that
will help scale and accelerate the implementation of new fuel technologies and
energy consumption (A.P. Moller-Maersk, 2020a). Decarbonization requires a
strong commitment to innovation, which is why A.P. Moller-Maersk will con-
tinue to research other carbon-neutral pathways, such as alcohol-lignin blends
and ammonia, following the introduction of methanol feeders, as all three of
the aforementioned carbon-neutral alternatives could become a standard for
marine fuels.
12.5 Conclusion
Since the Paris Agreement’s legal commitment to use new technologies to
reduce CO2 and other GHG emissions to achieve full decarbonization in
the long term, it has become one of the most important milestones in the
global fght against climate change. While new technologies require sig-
nifcant investment, they can certainly contribute to greater fairness in the
global market and help every participant in the supply chain. The benefts
can be seen from various aspects such as traceability of emissions, better
environmental activities, greater customer reach, and the like. Traceability
and transparency are the main benefts of such a development, which is
a must in the modern business world as the requirements and needs of
the end customers have become more complicated. Certainly, decarboniza-
tion adds value to every stakeholder in the value chain, despite the price
to be paid. As the case of A.P. Moller-Maersk shows, quick response and
adaptation to global needs can be the key factor when it comes to market
share and overall competitiveness, as A.P. Moller-Maersk can be consid-
ered a market leader. This paper provides an overview of decarbonization
activities based on the Group’s sustainability report with the mentioned legal
framework for such activities. Although this study has certain limitations
as it is mainly based on online data collection and interviews with certain
colleagues, the fndings contribute to the existing body of knowledge and
can be of great value to both the academic and professional communities.

This study presents the hottest topic at present from the perspective of the
current leader in the shipping industry, especially when it comes to innova-
tion. The increasing climate activities and research of the market players as
well as their activities towards decarbonized logistics can go a long way in
making this world a better place for all. With all of the above, from tracking
the emissions footprint, to research and development of decarbonized solu-
tions, to the fnal implementation of net-zero technologies, great success is
achieved both for humanity on an individual level and for the ambitions of
companies to save the environment in which they operate.
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Chapter 13
the organization of
transportation: City Rhythm
and Communication in times
of telematic transformation
Irena Je˛drzejczyk
University of Bielsko-Biala in Silesia, Poland
Contents
13.1 Introduction..........................................................................................285
13.2 The Organization of Transportation in the Urban Area Harmonized
with the City Rhythm: The Choice of the Place of Research ................289
13.3 An Example of an Urban Profle and the Types of Arrangement
of Urban and Suburban Space ............................................................292
13.4 Developing a Sustainable Transport System in the City Using
New Investment Initiatives and Smart Telematic Solutions ...............295
13.5 Conclusions ..........................................................................................298
References .......................................................................................................300
13.1 introduction
An overview of the directions in the research on transportation systems
friendly for the environment and inhabitants led to the identifcation of the
following topics to the scientifc debate:
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-16 285

1) The evolution of transportation systems in geographical space, including

urban geographical space;
2) the economic effectiveness and technical effciency of transportation systems;
3) the infuence of transportation systems on urban development and envi-
ronmental transformation;
4) human-transport behavior within the urban ecosystem;
5) innovativeness in urban transportation systems and the transport behav-
ior of users of urban space.
The differences between big and medium or small cities constitute the
justifcation of the topic. Particularly the latter two struggle with many devel-
opment problems such as depopulation, a decrease in investment, and an
exodus of family businesses to bigger urban hubs in the country or even
abroad. In 2020, two Polish cities—Warsaw and Breslau—were placed in the
ranking IESE Cities in Motion Index of the world’s top 100 smartest cities. In
the ranking IESE Cities in Motion Index for 2020, Warsaw was placed 69 and
Breslau 95. Both cities were the top two in the “Polish Cities of the Future
2050” ranking prepared by the company Saint Gobain (Kaz´mierczak, 2021).
In both rankings, the cities were rewarded for their mobility investments. In
Breslau, the biggest number of projects related to the smart city concerned
city mobility. One of the key projects was the Intelligent Transport System
(ITS) launched in 2014. The system included, among others, the installation
of 1,285 CCTV cameras in 159 intersections in Breslau. Moreover, nearly 650
tramways and busses were equipped with board computers and detectors
cooperating with software. Similar systems were also launched in Warsaw,
Krakow, Poznan, Białystok, Rzeszów, and Tychy. Currently, Katowice and
Zielona Góra are also preparing for ordering similar systems. Certain big
cities in Poland introduced the standards Smart City ISO 37120 as the cities
friendly for inhabitants and for the environment, and in relation to the par-
ticipation in the international initiatives such as the project Urban Lab, the
project RUGGEDISED, and others.
Big cities were the subject of multiple scientifc types of research and many
proposals for project partnerships. Compared to this, the small cities and
towns rarely are objects of scientifc analysis. In the studies such as “IESE
Cities in Motion: International urban best practices” or “Cities and Mobility &
Transportation,” the big cities are evaluated on the international level. At the
same time, in Poland, the National Strategy of the Regional Development indi-
cates the needs of the Areas of the Strategic Interventions:
Organization of Transportation: City Rhythm and Communication ◾ 287
1) The 139 medium cities out of 934 cities in Poland, which lose their eco-
nomic function, and
2) 755 communes out of a total of 2, 477 (including urban, urban-rural, and
rural communes) are at risk of permanent marginalization.
The urban space, which loses the socioeconomic functions and/or is threat-
ened by permanent marginalization, faces challenges—including mobility chal-
lenges—much greater than big, rich, and well-organized cities. The small cities
and towns face the challenges of the mobility organization in the context of the
mobility conditions, maintaining the rhythm of the city and with the respect for
the rules of the sustainable development of the mobility. These challenges are
the objects of this analysis, as by the justifcation previously stated. “At the eco-
logical level, habitation becomes essential. The city envelops it; it is form, envel-
oping this space of ‘private’ life, arrival and departure of networks of information
and the communication of orders (imposing the far order to the near order).
Two approaches are possible. The frst goes from the most general to the most
specifc (from institutions to daily life) and then uncovers the city as specifc and
(relatively) privileged mediation. The second starts from this plan and constructs
the general by identifying the elements and signifcations of what is observable
in the urban. It proceeds in this manner to reach, from the observable, ‘private’,
the concealed daily life: its rhythms, its occupations, its spatial-temporal organi-
zation, its clandestine ‘culture’, its underground life” (Lefebvre, 1996, p. 113).
The objective of the chapter is to recognize the changes in the mobility sys-
tem designed to cover a scope of municipalities of various sizes. The changes
were aimed to adjust the system to the rhythm of the small city, using the
capacity of the telematic transformation.
The problem is to identify the solution to the disadvantages of the transit
vehicular traffc for a small city located at the intersection of the numerous
regional and national routes. The chapter does not comprise the evaluation by
the indexes used in the rankings of IESE Cities in Motion.
The following hypotheses will be verifed:
1) Moving the transit vehicular traffc from the area of the small city to its
administrational borders reduces the disruptions of the life rhythm of the
small city and eliminates the disadvantages sourced in the transit traffc;
2) the smart transit center located on the edge of the city by the railway
station allowed outer transit traffc to not commute to schools and work-
places directed towards the urban area;
3) the traffc and schedules of public urban transport for commuters

to schools and work and for tourists have been harmonized with
the arrivals to the smart transit center from further and closer
surroundings;
4) existing and new cultural, economic, and social interlinks emerge in the
urban and suburban space of the isochrones of 25 km.
The aim of the chapter is the recognition of changes in the transportation

system in the context of adjusting to the city rhythm using the capacity of
telematics transformation. The Feasibility Study of the Smart Transfer Hub was
based on the following assumptions:
1) The Center concentrates traffc in one point of the area but not in the city
center;
2) the Center allows commuters to combine various means of transportation;
3) the Center does not interrupt the natural city rhythm.
For the feasibility study of the investment, feld research was conducted for
three cross-cutting characteristics:
1) As for the spatial profle, the location of the transport route within
territorial units, the usage, and functions of the examined areas were
analyzed;
2) as for usage, passenger traffc intensity was examined during the day and
on chosen days of the week;
3) as for social patterns, passengers’ behavior and their opinions regarding
the effectiveness of transportation systems were analyzed;
4) as for the institutional profle, the organization of transport was analyzed
based on the opinions of the people directly responsible for organizing
transport in the city.
In the chapter, selected results of the research and analysis of the spatial
and institutional aspects are presented. The source of the information is the
query of the programme strategic documents on the national and local lev-
els, operating planning documents, interactive websites of the Regional Data
Bank of the Statistics of Poland, reports of investment implementation1 as well
as the information and data retrieved by the questionnaire, interview, and the
participative observation.
13.2 the organization of transportation in the

Urban Area Harmonized with the City Rhythm:
the Choice of the Place of Research
Like all organisms, the city lives in its own rhythm. The cyclical, repetitive
stages systemize the city’s order. Observing a sequence of changes stabilize
over time allowed for drawing the cycle of urban life. It is determined by
passing time—the seasons of the year and times of day mark the meaning
of particular urban intervals. The intensity of traffc, the presence of specifc
actors inside the urban space (inhabitants, tourists, trespassers, and others),
and the mutability of points in space affected by this presence are all factors,
which, when observed in a systemic manner, will deliver knowledge about
the city rhythm.
The author assumes that big investments in the urban infrastructure, includ-
ing transportation investments, have an impact on the organization of urban
space and on the environment. According to the most recent information,
transport is responsible for 25% of the air pollution in Europe. The speed
of the growth of emissions from this source is terrifying—in 2018 compared
to 1990, growth reached 29% (EEA, 2019). The choice of the research was
deliberate and its main arguments were the level of air pollution, the density
of the transport network, and the diversity of city functions and its regional
neighborhood.
The pollution map of the entire area of Poland was analyzed, indicating the
Silesian Voivodship as the most polluted area requiring urgent action for the
improvement of air, including changes in transportation systems. An example
of the problem of changes in the organization of transport and its adjustment
to city-rhythm life during the telematic transformation is a small city located
in the Silesian Voivodship: Pszczyna.
The quality of the air in the analyzed area in Poland using the synthetic air
quality index is presented by Chief Inspectorate For Environmental Protection
(Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, 2021). Air Quality Index (AQI) is
the simplest way to defne the level of air pollution. Its scale is from zero to
500—the higher the index is, the greater the air pollution. The assessment of
the air quality includes primarily the level of the suspended particulates PM2.5
and PM10 and also selected gas pollutants sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3),
nitrogen oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), and benzene, which are most
frequently the result of the combustion of fuels. AQI could be referred to the
American, Chinese, and so-called Polish standards (relevant to the member
countries of the European Union). The European standard is more restrictive

than the American one, which can be observed in the example of Pszczyna.
For this city, the air quality index is at the passable level, i.e., to the 150 µg/
m3 of the PM2.5 according to the American standard and only to the level of
75 µg/m3 of PM2.5 by the more severe EU standards.
According to the Development Strategy of the City Pszczyna for the years
2015–2023, in the III strategic area, the activities are designed to lower the
atmospheric pollution for AQI improvement from the passable level to the
moderate level or even to the good level (Strategy of the City Pszczyna . . .,
2015, p. 84).
Pszczyna is an active city in the context of green and smart mobility and
a multifunctional city. It includes settlements and offers touristic, indus-
trial, craft, and commerce functions. The city is said to be an important
transportation hub following the big investment in the transport infra-
structure. Pszczyna belongs to the group of Polish cities affected by the
signifcant decrease of the population pictured also by the author’s own
calculations based on the data of the Statistics Poland (interactive websites
of the Regional Data bank). In the years 1995–2016 a population decrease
of 25% was observed, from 34,675 inhabitants in 1995 to 25,980 inhabitants
in 2016.
In 2021, Pszczyna was inhabited by 25,833 citizens on an area of 22.5
km2, with an average population density of 1,148.5 inhabitants per km2. For
the Pszczyna region, the urbanization rate amounted to 23.5%. According to
data from the National Heritage Institute, as of December 15th, 2017, the 63
historical buildings and objects listed in the register of monuments were reg-
istered (Pszczyna w liczbach, 2017). There were areas of forest greenery and
so-called Pszczyna forests surrounding the city in its direct proximity, giving
shelter to wisents (the European bison) as a protected species (Sopot-Zembok
& Cempura, 2020).2
The following places had substantial meaning for the gravity of the city’s
traffc structure: The City of the second half of the 13th century, i.e., the mar-
ket square and the layout of the buildings surrounding it. The Castle from the
18th to 19th centuries (by today’s 1 Ksawery Dunikowski St.) is also known
as the Pszczyna Palace. There are fve public roads of a voivodship category
or higher, cutting through the city of Pszczyna, including the No. 1 state Road
(DK1) and the regional roads DW 931, DW 933, DW 935, and DW 939. Two
railway tracks lead through Pszczyna. They were used both for passenger and
freight traffc, namely railway lines No. 139 Katowice-Zwardoń (LK 139) and
railway No. 148 Pszczyna-Rybnik (LK 148) (Pszczyna w liczbach . . ., 2021).
The major transport gravity points, sorted by their meaning, were as

follows:
1) The neighborhood of the historical city walls of Old Town;

2) the Castle Museum located in the Castle from the 18th to 19th centuries—
the palace of the von Pless family;
3) the railway station.
The implementation of big infrastructure investment, which was the trans-

formation of the railway station and its surroundings, and the construction of
a bus transport hub (busses, coaches, minibusses) to the Transfer Hub altered
the gravity of urban-space traffc. It has now become the central focus point
for the new localization of business undertakings and new settlements of
some offces and institutions.
According to the research questionnaire conducted after the investment
had been completed, the majority of responders indicated that Pszczyna was
a transportation hub. That differs from the previous questionnaire research
which had been carried out when the most frequent answer was that Pszczyna
is the hub of culture and tourism. Two essential questions arise:
1) Is the city rhythm regulated by the times of arrival and departure from
and to other cities and districts of Pszczyna from the transfer hub?
2) Does Pszczyna lack one central point, which would serve typical func-
tions (Wallis (1990), i.e., the function of the urban space with its natural
rhythm?
If, following the result of the questionnaire research, Pszczyna is an impor-

tant transportation hub, the traffc of pedestrians and cars is regulated by the
cycle of traffc lights. During the week, in the morning and afternoon, the
traffc lights stop hundreds of cars and pedestrians. In this aspect, the city
fulflls this function practically all day long. The city changes in the late eve-
ning when the traffc loses its intensity, so it does not need to be regulated
with lights. With the seasons changing throughout the year, the time of turn-
ing on the streetlamps, shop lights, and boards changes. In the summertime,
urban space starts being lit with the illumination at about 9 PM and the light
is turned off at about 4 AM.
Indicators such as the time of turning the streetlamps on and off, the length
of the cycles of traffc lights, and the lights on or off in the windows of build-
ings all describe the city rhythm.
13.3 An example of an Urban Profle and the types

of Arrangement of Urban and Suburban Space
The analysis of the arrangement of areas located in the transport layout of
Pszczyna based on the county land registry and the Statistics Poland data
was carried out by the author. Based on the analysis, six types of areas that
generate traffc streams and passenger streams in various ways and on vari-
ous levels could be distinguished. The proportions between the forms of land
use, the density of buildings and their character, and the level of intensity of
coverage of terrain with transport and settlement networks were the criteria
of the type of space arrangement.
The urban and transport profle of the area intensity responded to the fol-
lowing types:
1) Type I: An urban area with investments represented by Pszczyna, Tychy,

Goczałkowice, and Czechowice-Dziedzice; these were places with a very
intense density of buildings and a high concentration of various services
in a relatively small area with a high concentration of the population;
2) Type II: Invested-in suburb areas with a mixed habitation and service
structure, and a limited production function; apart from farm properties,
the services of craft, commerce, and random production grounds were
located here; the functional diversity typical for suburban areas was char-
acterized by a concentration of land arrangement and population concen-
tration, which are above average;
3) Type III: Invested-in suburb areas with a mixed habitation and service
structure, and holiday functionalities; farm households, single random
services, and holiday resort estates were intertwined. The types of func-
tions were characteristic of suburban areas, the type of buildings was
characterized by an average intensity of land use with a seasonal popula-
tion concentration fuctuating during a year;
4) Type IV: Invested-in rural areas of the settlement function and holiday
resort estates; farm buildings dominate. The area arrangements were of
average intensity with an average level of population concentration. The
population concentration demonstrates seasonal population concentra-
tion fuctuating during the year, similarly to Type III;
5) Type V: Rural areas dominated by farm felds; mostly covered by arable
felds and meadows; the terrain was of a low level of space arrangement
and low population density;
6) Type VI: Forests with a minimal level of space usage; not populated by
permanent inhabitants.
Based on the comparison of the areas generating the road and passenger
traffc shared by the City Council of Pszczyna and the author’s research on the
land management in the communication context in Pszczyna and its neigh-
borhood, the new convergences were identifed. The results identifed the
new transport routes and new stops for the collective transport of the city and
commune of Pszczyna. The generated passenger traffc justifes the invest-
ment “Integrated Transfer Hub in Pszczyna.”
Within the urban profle, each type of area described previously can be
assigned to a different level of generating road traffc, including passenger traffc.
Type I was characterized by a very strong and permanent capacity to
generate passenger traffc. Type II generated strong passenger traffc with a
periodic seasonal increase in the number of participants in such traffc. Types
III and IV generated average passenger traffc, while V and VI generate pas-
senger traffc only at a limited level.
The analysis of passenger traffc was conducted for random bus routes
linked by a network with the Integrated Transfer Hub in Pszczyna. Three very
serious constraints were interfering:
1) The decrease of the passenger traffc intensity due to the COVID-19 pan-
demic (administrational restrictions of sanitary authorities, recommenda-
tions of healthcare authorities, lockdown affecting employees’ commutes);
2) the decrease of the railway links during the recent decade and more due
to the drastic reduction of the railway network in Silesia caused by the
decline of its proftability (railway lines operated were reduced from 2,155
km in 2010 to 1,912 km in 2020 (Statistics Poland, 2021);
3) the creation and successive growth of bike paths thanks to co-fnancing
from the EU funds (bike paths increase their total length from nearly zero
kilometers in 2010 to 726.3 km in 2015 and 1,194.9 km in 2020 (Statistics
Poland, 2021).
The indicated research limitations showed that the identifed passenger

traffc was not a result of one factor but many factors coinciding. According to
experts studied, one of the crucial factors was the launch of the Smart Transfer
Hub.
The results of the analysis indicated that the heaviest used external routes (with
consideration for acceptable borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic) were:
1) Pszczyna—Kobiór—Tychy;
2) Pszczyna—Goczałkowice—Czechowice-Dziedzice;
3) Pszczyna—Zakopane.
The route Pszczyna—Zakopane was characterized by seasonal fuctuation

in passenger traffc due to the dominating tourist function of Zakopane—the
resort in the Polish Tatra Mountains.
Additionally, the analysis presents ways to other external towns (beyond
the Pszczyna county), however, with lower isochrones of distance from the
Integrated Transfer Hub of average use (with consideration for acceptable bor-
ders due to the COVID-19 pandemic):
1) Pszczyna—Wola;
2) Pszczyna—Jawiszowice;
3) Pszczyna—Żory;
4) Pszczyna—Pawłowice;
5) Pszczyna—Strumień;
6) Pszczyna—Rybnik;
7) Pszczyna—Jankowice—Studience;
8) Pszczyna—Bieruń.
Among the routes crossing the administrational border linking Pszczyna

with its suburban areas, the ones used most intensely were:
1) Pszczyna—Rydułtowice—Ćwiklice;
2) Pszczyna—Polne Domy;
3) Czarków—Pszczyna CP—Pszczyna Szpital;
4) Pszczyna—Czarnków Kościół via Stara Wies;
5) Pszczyna—Czarnków Skrzyżowanie via Piasek.
Further routes emerging as the most frequently used within city borders as
a result of the analysis were:
1) F1 Pszczyna—Złoty Kłos;
2) F2 Pszczyna—Złoty Kłos;
3) A Pszczyna—Wisła Mała;
4) A Pszczyna Transfer Hub—Szymanowskiego Street.
The analysis of passenger traffc in the urban area by internal city routes
and routes operating within the borders of the Pszczyna county led to inter-
esting conclusions. The observations made on working days from 6 AM to
9 PM demonstrated a peak of transfers from 6 AM to 9 AM with a maxi-
mum between 7 AM and 8 AM. This signifcant domination in vehicle traffc
intensity during the day was related to school and work commutes. Between
9 AM and 1 PM, traffc intensity falls by half. Smaller values noted in this time
interval reveal the daily rhythm of urban life (before the meridian behavior
related to having to be at work or school dominate visibly). Past 1 PM, slow
growth of the number of passengers who start or end their work in the after-
noon hours can be observed, with rush hours between 3 PM and 5 PM. After
5 PM, a gradual decrease in activities outside of the home among permanent
Pszczyna inhabitants can be observed.
The fuctuation of the intensity of passenger traffc was related to the sea-
sonal holiday period and the summer holidays at schools and colleges and
results from repetitive cycles of lockdown during the pandemic crisis caused
by COVID-19. It was observed that during the holidays a load of internal
routes is half the load observed on working days.
The study of the intensity of passenger traffc was carried out, observing
the sources in external areas and with the tourist-and-visitor stream passing
through the Integrated Transfer Hub. The observation revealed fows towards
Pszczyna Castle and the beautiful park surrounding the Castle. The stream’s
peak time was during the weekends and the summer holidays. The lowest
traffc is observed on these routes in winter. The traffc intensity reveals the
seasonal rhythm of the city fulflling touristic and leisure functions.
13.4 Developing a Sustainable transport System

in the City Using new investment initiatives
and Smart telematic Solutions
The literature on the topic distinguishes at least three models of city relations
with its neighborhood, which are (Guy & Marvin, 2001):
1) Redesigning the city model (RDC)—designed as a compact and energy-

effcient municipality;
2) the externally-dependent-city model (EDC)—i.e., the city relying on
external infuences;
3) the self-reliant-city model—in which the city strives for the deep internal-
ization of its economy and environmental activities as well as openness,
integration, and cooperation with the ecosystem.
Big infrastructure investments, such as the Integrated Transfer Hub, allowed

for the assessment of Pszczyna as a city aspiring to become a self-reliant city.
The initiative for the construction of the Integrated Transfer Hub was initiated
by the Council of Pszczyna county in 2013. The studies and design works
were carried out in 2016 when the ground was purchased from the Polish
State Railways (PKP) for the construction of the Hub in 2017. The contract for
co-fnancing from EU funds was signed, and with a fnancial outlay of PLN
17.8 million (ca. € 3.9 million), a modern Integrated Transfer Hub was created
and opened in 2019. The Hub comprises, among others, 180 parking places
for bikes and 200 parking places for cars.
Despite the research constraints, the statement was justifed that the invest-
ment brought about many advantages for the city and the region, such as:
1) The improvement of the road infrastructure;

2) the opening of the city for its touristic values (cultural and natural) to
tourists;
3) the integration of passenger streams and other transportation facilitations
for inhabitants and visitors, including the passenger streams generated in
the new areas of the mobility gravity area surrounding Pszczyna;
4) the introduction of new technological solutions, including the frst
telematic approach.
Despite the unquestionable predominance of opportunities over threats, a

serious risk of the increase in harmful emissions appeared, particularly for the
atmospheric air due to the multiplication of the transportation feet using the
Integrated Transfer Hub serving internal city routes, external suburb routes,
and long-distance coaches. Currently, the Integrated Transfer Hub is used by
170 busses and other vehicles of collective passenger transport, serving the
routes related to the Hub.
According to the Long-Term Financial Prognosis in the attachment The
Inventory of the Undertakings to the Long-Term Prognosis, the position 1.1.2.1
lists the following undertaking: The Construction of the Integrated Transfer
Center with a Necessary Infrastructure, construction of the bike paths—
Improvement of the Mobility Quality in Pszczyna commune with the budget
of PLN 28,699,539.00, including the limit for 2022 of PLN 7,588,377.35 (with
the main expenditure: New technological solutions). In the position 1.3.1.7, the
amount of PLN 100,860.00 with a limit of PLN 80,688.00 is dedicated to the
Study of the Conditions and Spatial Planning of Pszczyna commune together
with the forecasting of the impact on the environment and the preparation of
the eco-physiographic study for the Pszczyna commune—the directions of the
spatial development (Table 13.1).
table 13.1 Mobility and Collective Passenger transport in Pszczyna in 2021, in the opinions of experts, Users, and Contractors.
Sources generating the most The mobility and technology priorities with the
passenger traffc Main factors defning the rhythm of the city participation of the city
(% of responses) (% of responses) (% of responses)
— educational institutions and — the leading function of Pszczyna as a support — improvement of passenger care in the areas on
facilities—46% mobility hub on the background of other the borders with other regions in Poland—43%
Organization of Transportation: City Rhythm and Communication

— culture, sport, and tourist functions—58% — reinforcement of the national Silesia—Krakow
locations and facilities—16% — the daily traffc rush hours as a leading schemes and links and Agglomerations of
— administration and indicator of the rhythm of the city compared Bielsko-Biała and Rybnik with Ostrava—26%
governmental offces—10% to other indicators—81% — improvement of the network of long-distance
— workplaces—10% — the following months as the peak of the links with the South and southeast of
— open markets and shopping season related to the school year (sorted by Poland—26%
malls—9% the intensity): March, April, September, — the implementation of the new technologies,
— hospitals and the specialized October—65% including telematics—21%.
clinics—4% — the peak months for short tourist visits
— railway and bus stations—3% (sorted by the intensity): June, July, and
— external sources of the August—55%.
transit character 2%.
Main founders and collective The assessment of the routes and courses The structure of the passengers by the origins, habits,
transport providers cooperating (one-way and return) personal features, and expectations of passengers of
with them in the urban space (% of responses) the collective transport in the city
(% of indications) (% of responses)
— the Mayor of the city of — responders glad about the location of routes — the share of the citizens of Pszczyna in the
Pszczyna—81% and stops—55%; responders proposing new passengers’ structure is 22% among the
— Pszczyna’s chief stops—14%; remaining responders did not thirteen municipalities
administrative offcer have an opinion — the shares of the youth from sixteen to twenty
(Starosta) —11% — persons suggesting the higher frequency of years old—the biggest share—82% among
— the Mayor of Tychy—3% the routes—30%; the higher density of the seven age intervals
— the Mayor of Żory—2% network—30%; happy about the — the share of the passengers without a driving
— the Marshal of the Silesian schedules—25%; and with no opinion—15%; license—51%; passengers ecologically aware—
Voivodship—2% — using the public transport regularly from 22%; acknowledging the lower cost of the
◾ 297
— the Marshal of the Lesser Monday to Friday—15%; regularly on Saturday public transport—11%
Poland Voivodship—2%. and Sunday—5%; irregularly from Monday to — the share of the expectations of the modern feet,
Friday—29%; and infrequently—51%. higher standards, and ecology standards—9%.
Source: Author’s own elaboration.
The city aimed at shaping a sustainable transportation system, with major

desired features—frstly, limiting the need to move and, secondly, shortening
the distance the citizens have to overcome when commuting to work, schools,
or shopping centers. The development of remote jobs and workplaces, digital
sales channels, and the development of e-commerce platforms foster these
pursuits. The environmental risk triggered by urban transport systems will
be reduced by the purchase of electric vehicles and other technological mea-
sures, among them telematics.
Telematics is a way of limiting the loss ratio in the car feet. The installa-
tion of the telematic system means caring for safety and economic driving,
i.e., saving petrol, reducing car usage (Król, 2011; Merkisz-Guranowska et al.,
2015; Neumann, 2017; Nowacki, 2008; Plusiński, 2017; Wydro, 2005; Wydro,
2008). Adaptive cruise-control sensors, eco-roll systems, retarders or MX, the
collision-warning system with an emergency deceleration to zero, automatic
car steering based on the tilts of the set, and the tire pressure sensor are just
a few of many amenities offered to drivers.
An analysis of the usage correctness of solutions affecting safety and earth-
bound parameters, such as the level of gas-pedal pressure or the way and time
of the usage of a retarder and breaks will help to form an adequate transport
policy in the city.3 The automation of processes creates the possibility to increase
work effciency and optimize the time for the tasks of carriers and dispatchers.
Thanks to the modern technology of TMS (transport-management systems),
orders can be profciently planned, shipped, delivered, and settled.4 The city
telematics platform, which delivers telematics services for such bodies as the
Integrated Transfer Hub and related providers servicing particular routes, should
be of interest to the city council. Górecka (2021) states that systemic solutions in
public transport in cities depend on the adopted transportation strategy for the
particular unit. The adoption of the sustainable strategy leads to limiting private
car usage to the advantage of public transport and to actions for the protection
of the natural environment including the air.
13.5 Conclusions
Green and smart mobility is a strategy with ecological and digital transforma-
tion at its basis. Its purpose is to increase the resilience of transportation in
future crises. As indicated in the European Green Deal, thanks to the smart,
competitive, and safe transportation system, which is accessible and cost-
attractive for users, emissions can be lowered by 90% by 2050.
As national research indicates, Polish big and small cities join the ecological
transformation and implement smart mobility. The analysis of the study case
of Pszczyna leads to the following conclusions:
1) New infrastructure investments, such as the integrated Transfer Hub in

Pszczyna, infuence the activation of the suburb zone and the integration
with other remote city hubs thanks to long-distance bus routes;
2) the intensity of passenger traffc refects the rhythm of urban life, includ-
ing seasonal changes;
3) the environmentally friendly city-transport policy aims to limit the human
need to relocate, and it tries to shorten the distance;
4) the telematics, including the urban telematics platform, is a chance for the
development of “a self-reliant city,” including its vicinity and shaping the
transport system sustainably in terms of the environment, organization,
and technology.
Considerations within this chapter allowed us to verify the hypothesis

formed at the beginning that the smart transfer center is an investment facili-
tating the organization of the sustainable transport in the city thanks to the
concentration of traffc at one point in the area and also beyond the city cen-
ter in line with the rhythm of urban life.
The integrated Transfer Hub located in the proximity of the railway
station helps passengers to combine various transportation means, and
encourages the usage of railways, which are, currently, the friendliest to the
environment.
notes
1 The project “The Construction of the Transfer Center in Pszczyna with the
Necessary Assisting Infrastructure” and other materials acquired from the
Marshal Offce of the Silesian Voivodship, Department of Geodesy, Real Estate
Management and Spatial Planning in Katowice, documentation of the con-
test “The Best Public Space of the Silesian Voivodship”, The Management of
the Silesian Voivodship in cooperation with the Polish Architects Association,
Katowice Branch, edition 2020.
2 The story of the resettlement of wisents to Pszczyna forests originates in 1865
when wisents were brought to this area on the initiative of the Prince von Pless,
Jan Henryk XI Hochberg. More on the topic can be found in the chronicles of
Pszczyna.
3 The problem is discussed in more depth in texts in sector press such as “Motor
Transport” and “Commercial Motor”
4 There are two types of TMS software available on the market: local and cloud
based. In the frst case, the software is installed on the local computer and is
accessible by the user directly.
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Chapter 14
Food-Sharing economy:
Analysis of Selected Solutions
in the Warsaw Agglomeration
Agata Balińska
Warsaw University of Life Science—SGGW, Poland
Contents
14.1 Introduction..........................................................................................303
14.2 Theoretical Background: Food Sharing as Part of the Concept
of the Sharing Economy ......................................................................308
14.3 Materials and Methods.........................................................................312
14.4 Research Results and Discussion ........................................................313
14.4 Conclusions..........................................................................................319
References.......................................................................................................322
14.1 introduction
The sharing economy is an interesting socioeconomic trend manifesting itself
mainly in large cities. As an economic phenomenon, sharing is usually ana-
lyzed in the area of transport services (e.g., city bikes, electric scooters, car shar-
ing, Uber, BlaBlaCar) and lodging services (e.g., Airbnb). During the COVID-19
pandemic, the intensity of sharing various resources has been inhibited. The
sharing-economy concept is also applicable in the area of the redistribution of
surplus food and groceries. With this in mind, properly equipped and main-
tained local food-sharing points are being set up. There are public storage places,
DOI: 10.4324/9781003304364-17 303

where every individual can leave surplus food for others to take. Independently,
mobile applications are being created that enable contact between stakeholders
in the food-exchange process (i.e., the donor and the recipient). There are also
several institutions in Poland (e.g., Polish Food Banks) that act as an intermediary
between those in need and donors, primarily retail chains, individual shopkeep-
ers, and food producers. Also, individuals can become donors by donating food
to volunteers of Polish Food Banks in shopping centers and supermarkets during
food-collecting actions.
This study focuses on local food sharing points and food- or meal-sharing
mobile applications that enable donating and obtaining food on a noncom-
mercial basis. They can be used by both senior citizens, who do not use
digital technologies (local food-sharing points), and young people for whom
new media is a natural way of communicating with the world. The reason for
undertaking this research was the very idea of food sharing, which, frstly,
limits food waste, and, secondly, enables the transfer of surplus goods to those
in need (redistribution). When justifying the choice of this research problem,
it is necessary to indicate the scale of food waste with which we are deal-
ing. According to a new UN report (UNEP Food Waste Index Report, 2021),
“around 931 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019, 61 percent of
which came from households.” The report points to the fact that “household
per capita food waste generation is found to be broadly similar across country
income groups, suggesting that action on food waste is equally relevant in high,
upper-middle and lower-middle income countries.” The fgures on food waste
and loss are particularly controversial due to the fact that approximately 690
million people worldwide are malnourished. Food waste is not only an ethi-
cal problem but also an environmental problem. The same report stated: “The
fact that substantial amounts of food are produced but not eaten by humans
has substantial negative impacts: environmentally, socially and economically.
Estimates suggest that 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associ-
ated with food that is not consumed” (UNEP Food Waste Index Report, 2021,
2021). Food waste is not only discarding food products but also wasting water
that was used in the process of growing crops, the production of fuels for
agricultural-machinery means of transport, energy, and the water used in food
processing. It is also the loss of forests, which in some regions of the world
are cut on a large scale to enable expanding the area of banana, avocado, and
maize plantations or pasture areas for livestock. These are just a few examples
of the damage to the environment caused by the overproduction of food. If the
discarded food were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of carbon
dioxide, right after China and the USA (Sobolak, 2021).
Food-Sharing Economy: Analysis of Selected Solutions ◾ 305
table 14.1 total Annual Food Waste Produced in Selected Countries.

Food waste per year Food waste
Country (in millions of tonnes) per capita (kg)
China 91.6 64
India 68.8 50
the United States 19.4 59
Japan 8.2 64
Germany 6.3 75
France 5.5 85
the United Kingdom 5.2 77
Russia 4.9 33
Source: Based on www.statista.com (retrieved 20 December, 2021).
Food waste is not the only characteristic of rich countries. The highest fg-
ures for food waste, of course, are in countries with the largest populations.
However, when food waste is calculated per capita, this ranking changes
(Table 14.1).
Despite appearing to have a relatively high level of total food waste com-
pared to other countries (Table 14.1), some nations discard less per capita,
e.g., the Russians, while the French waste the most per capita but their total
food-waste index is lower due to a smaller population. In Poland, according
to the research of the Food Rationalization and Reduction Program (PROM)
(Bank Żywności, 2021) we waste 4.8 million tonnes of food. So every sec-
ond 153 kilograms of food end up in the bin. More than half (a minimum of
53%) of wasted and lost food comes from households, followed by process-
ing (19%), gastronomy (12%), production (11%), and distribution (5%). In 2018,
42% of Poles admitted to throwing away food. The most commonly discarded
products include bread (49%), fruit (46%), cold meats (45%), vegetables (37%),
yogurts (27%), potatoes (17%), and milk (12%). The most frequently mentioned
reason for throwing away food is exceeding the use-by date (29% of indi-
cations). The less frequently mentioned reasons include: Overbuying (20%),
excessive meal portions (15%), purchasing poor-quality products (15%), and
improper food storage (13%) (Bankier.Pl, 2021). The scale of the phenomenon
of food waste prompted the European Parliament to adopt the document:
P8_TA (2017) 0207 “Resource effciency: reducing food waste, improving food
safety, the European Parliament resolution of 16 May 2017 on the initiative on
resource effciency: reducing food waste, improving food safety (2016/2223

(INI))” (European Parliament, 2021). The same concern was behind the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN member states. Food
loss and waste are covered by Goal 12 entitled “Sustainable Consumption
and Production,” and specifcally by Target 12.3: “By 2030, half per capita
global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses
along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” (United
Nations, 2021). Food-sharing solutions analyzed in this chapter refer both to
the resolutions of the European Parliament and the United Nations Agenda
for Sustainable Development. Taking into account the abovementioned facts
and fgures, there is a need for a reduction in food waste by end users, i.e.,
households. The largest concentrations of consumers are found in large cities.
The scale of food waste is also particularly noticeable in large cities (Sapała,
2019; Lee, 2018; Warshawsky, 2019; Mugica & Rose, 2019).
Sharing solutions are also an important part of city logistics, as they work
effectively primarily in densely populated areas, i.e., in cities. During the pan-
demic, food sharing has undergone some modifcations, and new initiatives
have emerged (e.g., the unpaid delivery of dishes from restaurateurs to doctors
and nurses working in infectious-disease hospitals). Food-sharing solutions
also ft in with the scope of shared consumption, and even the Smart City con-
cept (How Food Waste Costs Our Cities Millions, 2021). As this is a relatively
new phenomenon, it is still not suffciently described in the literature. This
study aims to contribute to the existing research gap.
The research presented in this chapter covers both food-shargin solutions
that require the fairly free use of new media (mobile applications, e.g., Too
Good To Go) and those that do not even require a mobile phone (local food-
sharing points). The local food-sharing points are specially adapted places,
equipped with a refrigerator and a closed cupboard, without architectural
barriers. People can leave surplus food or leftovers in the fridge without fear
that they will go off. On the other hand, people looking for food can come
and take the products that suit them free of charge. The donor and the per-
son in need do not meet. Wherever possible, the food-sharing points are
arranged in such a way that both those who leave food and those who look
for food can use them at any time, regardless of the working hours of any
institution. Thus, they are located in public spaces, very often on the prem-
ises of municipal or city authorities and universities, etc. The originator (local
authorities, a university, a housing community, etc.) takes on the obligation
of keeping the infrastructure of the point clean. Information about local
food-sharing points is placed on notice boards of local housing cooperatives,
municipalities, cities, etc., and posted on the Internet. Whisper marketing is

also important here. The participants of the sharing process do not meet.
Moreover, the same person can simultaneously be in two roles, i.e., leave
what they will not use (eat) and take what someone else has left. Recently,
the food-sharing points have also been referred to as “social refrigerators”
(Wezpomoz, 2021). This name results from the fact that refrigerators are part
of the necessary equipment in such places, but the name also has a symbolic
meaning. It indicates that the food there is stored under appropriate condi-
tions and has a short shelf life. In public spaces, and especially in the mass
media, information on the possibility of leaving surplus food in “social refrig-
erators” most often appears before Christmas and Easter. This is because the
side effect of these holidays is, unfortunately, food waste at a scale even two
or three times bigger than normal. Unfortunately, the research on the actual
functioning of the food-sharing points and the roles of their users has been
insuffcient. The author’s observations showed that this type of food-sharing
facility is mainly used for seniors.
Mobile apps facilitate food sharing in a slightly different way. Depending
on the application, natural persons, but very often shops or food outlets (res-
taurants, cafes, pizzerias, etc.) post information about products that they want
to give away or sell at a reduced price at a given moment. A consumer who
wants to take advantage of such an offer reserves it, pays if it is to be paid for,
and collects it directly from the place where it is offered. Despite the fact that
the information is transferred via the Internet, ultimately the parties meet at
the arranged time and place (usually at the donor’s). Unlike the food-sharing
point, this process is not completely anonymous.
The aim of this study was to present the perceptions and experiences of
consumers (the sample included Warsaw residents) using food-sharing points
and food- or meal-sharing apps.
The following research questions were adopted:
1) To what extent are food-sharing points and food-sharing apps popular

with respondents?
2) What are the motives behind the use of food-sharing solutions?
3) What are the barriers to the use of food-sharing solutions?
4) To what extent do sociodemographic variables infuence the use of the
analyzed forms of food sharing?
The choice of Warsaw as the place to conduct this research was deliber-
ate. Due to the fact that it is the capital and the largest Polish city (with a
population of 2 million inhabitants), various forms of sharing economy are

being implemented in its area, including food-sharing initiatives.
There are 38 food-sharing points in Warsaw (Jadłodzielnie, 2021), and their
greatest concentration is in the central districts of the city. Also, over 500
entities from Warsaw are registered in a database of the most popular food-
sharing application Too Good To Go (Toogoodtogo, 2021). The mission of
both the food-sharing points and the app is to save food and prevent the
discarding of food.
14.2 theoretical Background: Food Sharing as

Part of the Concept of the Sharing economy
The phenomenon of sharing is a socioeconomic system, which is based on
the maximum use of resources owned by an individual by making them
available to other people, including consumers, primarily through the use
of massively available new technologies. It is a kind of consumer coopera-
tion. Majchrzak (2016) points out that the sharing economy manifests itself
on the market in various forms and structures, both nonproft and gener-
ating proft for one of the parties. In the scientifc literature, this concept
is also referred to as collaborative consumption, the sharing economy, the
collaborative economy, the access economy, or the peer economy (Burgiel,
2014). These concepts are not completely unambiguous but share many
features.
Botsman (2013) points out that the collaborative economy is the broad-
est concept in the feld of the sharing economy. It consists of a whole range
of interrelationships of both individuals and communities in four areas:
Production, fnance, education, and consumption.
Botsman (2013) treats the sharing economy as an element of collaborative
consumption (Figure 14.1). It can be defned as an economic model consisting
of accessing various types of resources or people’s property and sharing them
by renting, swapping, bartering, or reselling both goods and services. One of
the three systems1 that make up collaborative consumption is collaborative
lifestyles. The idea of the sharing economy concerns precisely this element
of collaborative consumption. Collaborative lifestyles form a system based on
people sharing their unutilized resources through mobile applications, web-
sites, or in-common physical spaces with other members of the community.
These resources include space, skills, free time, and food, which are analyzed
in this chapter.
collaboraˇve consumpˇon:
• collaboraˇve lifestyle Sharing
•product service system
economy
collaboraˇve •redistribuˇon markets
fnance
collaboraˇve collaboraˇve
educaˇon producˇon
collaboraˇve
economy
Figure 14.1 Components of the Collaborative economy.

Source: Own visualization based on: “The Sharing Economy Lacks a Shared Defnition,” Fast
Company. (2013). R. Botsman. www.fastcompany.com/3022028/the-sharing-economy-lacks-
a-shared-defnition
It is worth noting that communication within this system is based on direct

interpersonal contacts, in the literature referred to as P2P (peer-to-peer) com-
munication (Allen & Berg, 2014), Typically, it does not include intermediaries,
although there are examples of intermediaries that play a managerial role
(Ulug & Trell, 2020).
Belk, on the other hand, focuses on collaborative consumption, which he
describes as “people coordinating the acquisition and distribution of a resource
for a fee or other compensation,” where other compensation is understood as
a nonmonetary barter (Belk, 2014). It seems that, in the author’s understand-
ing, forms of sharing resources for which no compensation is provided, as it
is in the case of surplus food left in local food-sharing points, do not count as
collaborative consumption. It is diffcult to agree with this approach. Even if
we accept Belk’s interpretation of barter exchanges, the benefts of the parties
do not have to be the same. For the recipient, the beneft is free food, and for
the donor, the beneft may be immaterial, e.g., a sense of agency, satisfaction,
fulflled duty, or meeting ethical or religious standards.
In their considerations regarding the sharing economy, Bardhi and Eckhardt

(2012) refer to the concept of access-based consumption. The authors defne
access-based consumption as “transactions that can be market mediated but
where no transfer of ownership takes place.” As a result of these transac-
tions, consumers gain temporary access to given goods or services. Consumer
interest in such goods results from the fact that they cannot always afford
to purchase a specifc good, or the interest may be the result of spatial or
environmental limitations, which make access to given resources diffcult or
completely impossible.
Stephany goes even further by stating that “the sharing economy is the value
in taking underutilized assets and making them accessible online to a commu-
nity, leading to a reduced need for the ownership of those assets” (Stephany,
2015). It also distinguishes fve pillars on which the phenomenon of the sharing
economy is based: Value, online availability, underutilized resources, commu-
nity, and reduced demand for property. The author of this study relies mainly on
this defnition of the sharing economy; however, she believes that the fve pillars
of the sharing economy indicated by Stephany should be supplemented by trust
as an indispensable mediator in the sharing processes.
Jaros (2016) lists a wide range of behaviors that are included in the sharing-
economy concept. The list includes sharing, bartering, renting, lending, recy-
cling, and repairing. This chapter focuses on local food-sharing points and
mobile applications for food- or meal-sharing. The former can be classifed as
a locally based, neighbor-to-neighbor solution (Schwalb, 2020), while the latter
is mediated by information technology. In the area of meal sharing, host-guest
matching platforms and applications are becoming more and more helpful, and
they are increasingly popular with young consumers. One of the most interest-
ing is EatWith. The website is advertised as “the largest community in the world
that offers culinary experiences with residents in over 130 countries” (Eatwith,
2021). EatWith connects chefs and cooking enthusiasts, residents of tourist desti-
nations, and tourists—food lovers, looking for unique, authentic culinary expe-
riences. People using the website have the opportunity to eat dinner in private
homes or participate in cooking together. There were fve offers from Poland on
the website, all of them added by the same user (Eatwith, 2021).
Another example is the platform EatAway (Eataway.Com, 2021). Initially,
the main idea was to post the hosts’ offers for shared meals in their private
homes. Then, the platform also began to provide the possibility of ordering
meals from private individuals with personal pickup. At the end of 2020, it had
over 500 hosts from 73 cities. The number of such applications is still growing,
e.g., Ordinary Dinner, Too Good To Go, Meeatie, TasteAndSharePL.
It should be emphasized that sharing a meal requires mutual trust between

hosts and guests. The hosts share their private space and put their culinary
skills to evaluation. The guests, in turn, must trust that the meals are prepared
under appropriately hygienic conditions, from good-quality ingredients, and
that they will satisfy their culinary tastes. However, both parties may fear
spending time with a stranger.
Many authors argue that food-sharing apps are a form of community self-
organization aimed at replacing the anonymity of the food system with creat-
ing social relationships through sharing. The research of E.J. Veen also shows
that users look for good value for money and expect the price to refect the
noncommercial nature of this initiative (Veen, 2019).
It is also worth noting that sharing food is a universal human trait that was
a central component of economic and social life in hunter-gatherer societ-
ies. Socioeconomic development slowed down this phenomenon, especially
in developed countries in the second half of the 20th century. Food sharing
and limiting food-waste trends make donating surplus food to others and
celebrating meals in a larger group a socially desirable behavior. As empha-
sized by Gurven and Jaeggi, research on this issue should take into account
cross-cultural differences in sharing norms and behavior, and apply a vari-
ety of research methods to better combine the observed sharing patterns
with the study of underlying social conventions and beliefs (Gurven & Jaeggi,
2015). The studies of Harvey et al. (2020) show that donor-recipient reciprocity
and balance are rare. Most often, people are only donors or recipients. The
research also shows that for the seamless functioning of the application, the
location where the food is picked up is also important and should be comfort-
able for each party.
An interesting approach to technological solutions was proposed by
Feenberg, who claims that technology is not an independent variable, but
is co-constructed by social forces that it organizes and liberates (Feenberg,
2012). This perspective takes into account not only the technical components
but also the material, personal, political, and social aspects of sharing medi-
ated by technology that allows for food redistribution (Davies, 2019). Such
solutions are also analyzed as part of an urban civic collective that facilitates
local activities in the feld of food-sharing initiatives (Ulug & Trell, 2020). The
mobile applications used in this process are treated as an innovation in the
food-sharing model but they are only one of the elements facilitating this pro-
cess. This is a very important component, undergoing intensive development,
which makes it the subject of analyses by many researchers (Rosenlund et al.,
2020; Berketova & Volodina, 2020; Harvey et al., 2020).

The research process followed the stages presented in Table 14.2.
This study involved the analysis of source materials (publications) and com-
puter-assisted web interviewing (CAWI). The survey questionnaire was prepared
on the Survio platform. The following types of questions were used in the survey:
Filtering questions, alternative questions, single-answer multiple-choice questions
as well as ranking- and rating-scale questions. The link to the survey was shared
on social media and other online platforms from September to October 2019.
The survey was addressed to the residents of Warsaw; therefore the link was
posted on social-media groups associating with the residents of the capital. To
make sure that only Warsaw residents would participate in the study, the flter-
ing question “Are you currently living in Warsaw?” was used. A positive answer
made it possible to move on to the next part of the questionnaire, a negative
one ended the participation in the study. In this way, the non-random-selection
method of elimination was used (Mazurek-Łopacińska, 2005).
The actual research was preceded by a pilot study carried out in June 2019,
which allowed for the improvement of the research tool.
550 people took part in the actual survey. The group was diverse in terms
of gender, age, education level, and disposable income per person. The col-
lected dataset was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The statistical
tools included: The Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman
table 14.2 Research Stages.

Step 1 Review of literature on food sharing
Step 2 Identifcation of food-sharing solutions implemented in Warsaw
Step 3 Setting research questions and objectives
Step 4 Designing the questionnaire
Step 5 Pilot study
Step 6 Pilot study data analysis and verifcation of the questionnaire design
Step 7 Main study—data collection
Step 8 Qualitative verifcation of the collected data
Step 9 Choosing statistical methods, processing data
Step 10 Interpretation of data
Source: Own research.
R. The research results have been presented in graphic, tabular, and descrip-
tive forms.
The supporting technique was participant observation conducted at the
food-sharing point located near the Warsaw-Ursynów district offce, as well
as online forums and thematic groups gathering people seeking and sharing
knowledge and experience in the area of the sharing economy.

The survey involved a sample with the following characteristics: Regarding
gender, the majority of the respondents (61.8%), were women. In terms of age,
the structure of respondents was as follows: 38.2% were under 25; 21.2% were
aged 26–35; 19.8% were aged 36–45; 14.5% were aged 46–55; and 7.3% were
aged 56+. As for household size, the number of people per household was
quite diverse; most people declared two-person households (36.4%), three-
and four-person households (23.6% each), one-person households (9.1%), fve
and more persons (7.3%). The research plan also required the respondents
to declare their net disposable income per person (i.e., “spare cash” left after
bills like rent and mortgage, etc.). Respondents most often declared amounts
over PLN 2,000 (approx. EUR 468.4)—34.5%; PLN 1,000–1,500 (approx. EUR
232.6–348.8)—25.5%; PLN 1,500–2,000 (EUR 348.9–468.3)—20.2%; and up to
PLN 1,000 (EUR 232.5)—19.8%.
To begin with, the level of use and the respondents’ attitude to food-shar-
ing points and food-sharing applications were verifed (Table 14.3).
The declared frequency of use of the analyzed food-sharing solutions was
rather low (Table 14.3). It is worth noting, however, that a positive attitude
table 14.3 Frequency of Use and the Attitude of the Respondents to Food-
Sharing Points and Applications (in %).
Frequency of use Food-sharing apps Food-sharing points
Two to three times a month 4.4 0.5
A few times a year 13.6 12.7
Once in a few years 1.8 1.8
I don’t use it but I believe it is needed 71 77.7
I don’t use it and I believe it is not needed 9.2 7.3
towards them prevailed even among people declaring no experience with

their use. A positive attitude towards food-sharing solutions was also con-
frmed in the research of other authors (e.g., Płaczek & Zie˛tara, 2021). Due to
the relatively small share of people with experience in the use of food-sharing
points and applications in the sample and a lack of signifcant differences in
their responses, they will further be analyzed as one group.
The aim of this study was to verify the motives for using the analyzed forms
of obtaining food. One of the initial research questions was: What are the
motives behind the use of food-sharing solutions? The research was designed
to verify the motives that most often appeared in the studies of other authors,
media content, and declarations of associations and foundations operating in
the area of food sharing.
The respondents were then asked to rank the reasons for using the food-shar-
ing points and apps. The lowest rank (with a mean value of 5.3) was assigned
to “cost reduction,” followed by: “Care for the natural environment” (4.9), “the
possibility of making contacts with people” (3.4), and “a sense of being active
and useful” (3.0). The highest mean value was assigned to “curiosity and new
experience” (2.9). The respondents had the opportunity to provide their reasons
not included in the query. Some of them took advantage of this possibility and
mentioned ethical and moral reasons, saving time, or the will to help others.
The reasons for using these solutions were correlated with the respon-
dents’ gender (Table 14.4) and the declared disposable income (including the
amount spent on food)—Table 14.5. In the frst case, the Mann-Whitney test
was used, and in the second, the Spearman’s rank correlation coeffcient.
A statistically signifcant difference was demonstrated in the reasons for
using food-sharing solutions between women and men (Table 14.4). Women
ranked “care for the environment” higher (the mean value for women is 1.85)
than men (the mean value for men is 2.57). This fnding is consistent with the
studies of other researchers who showed that care for the environment, not
only at a level of declarations but also in concrete actions, is higher in the case
of women than men (Antonetti & Maklan, 2014; Brough et al., 2016; Urena et
al., 2008). It also seems important in the context of social and cultural changes,
i.e., the increasing participation of women in political life, holding positions of
responsibility in regional and national administrations as well as international
organizations (Hessami & da Lopes, 2020).
Men ranked “curiosity and new experience” signifcantly higher than
women (the mean value in the group of men was 3.52, while for women it
was 4.38). In the case of other variables, no statistically signifcant relation-
ships were found (Table 14.4).
table 14.4 the Relationship between Reasons for Using Food-Sharing Facilities
and Gender.
Mean Mann-Whitney test
Variable Women Men Z p
Care for the environment 1.853 2.571 −2.117 0.034
Cost reduction 1.794 1.524 0.823 0.411
Possibility to make contact with people 3.412 3.857 −1.080 0.280
Sense of being active and useful 3.764 4.286 −1.852 0.064
Curiosity and new experience 4.382 3.524 2.820 0.004
table 14.5 Disposable income per Person and the Reasons for Using
Food-Sharing Apps and Points (Spearman R).
Reasons for using food-sharing apps and points Spearman R p
Care for the environment 0.127 0.355
Cost reduction −0.283 0.037
Possibility to make contact with people 0.189 0.166
Sense of being active and useful 0.0003 0.998
Curiosity and new experience 0.159 0.247
Source: Own research, p = statistical signifcance.
The research showed a statistically signifcant correlation only between

the level of disposable income and the “cost reduction” factor, which seems
logical and confrms the correctness of this study (Table 14.5). The lower the
level of disposable income, the higher the rank of this factor (a greater need
to reduce costs). It is worth noting that the economic factor is analyzed quite
often in the literature. Some researchers emphasize that the interpretation of
the reasons for using sharing solutions is not straightforward. Cost reduction
as a motivation to participate in food sharing was indicated by Falcone and
Imbert (2017). In their research, and also the research of Cappellini (2009),
and Barnes and Mattsson (2016), both low- and medium-income consum-
ers are ashamed of talking about their concerns regarding economic needs,
even though they play a crucial role in their choices. Instead, they declare
environmental considerations, which are almost a global trend. Thus, despite
the growing public awareness of environmental issues and the focus of many
scientists on the impact of such solutions on the environment, their research
shows that, generally, consumers choosing sharing-economy solutions are
mainly motivated by economic, not environmental, reasons. Also, when it
comes to efforts to reduce food waste in households, the impact of environ-
mental motivation seems to be less signifcant (Quested et al., 2013; Graham-
Rowe et al., 2014). In turn, the leading role of the pro-environmental factor
and commitment to sustainable development was indicated in the research
by Ulug and Trell (2020). The research involved a case study of an initiative
called Free Café, a citizen-driven collective in one of the academic cities of
the Netherlands serving a free meal biweekly, using food that would other-
wise be thrown away. A very large share of young people in the social struc-
ture of the town, the involvement of the authorities, and the engagement of
other stakeholders made this particular food-sharing initiative feasible. This
may explain the leading role of motives to promote pro-environmental and
sustainable development. Although it is not the purpose of this chapter to
assess to what extent the declared motives for using sharing-economy solu-
tions coincide with actual ones, the previously mentioned doubts and cited
discrepancies in research fndings were intended to signal the complexity of
this area.
Next, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to verify the differences in the use
of the analyzed food-sharing solutions depending on age, household size, and
disposable income (Table 14.6).
table 14.6 the Use of Food-Sharing Points and Applications by Selected Variables
(Kruskal-Wallis test).
Specifcation Kruskal-Wallis test p
Applications & Age 2.2396 0.524
Food-sharing points & Age 1.1809 0.758
Applications & Household size 1.3927 0.498
Food-sharing points & Household size 2.1013 0.350
Applications & Disposable income 3.4510 0.327
Food-sharing points & Disposable income 2.1318 0.546
There was no statistically signifcant difference between the use of food-

sharing solutions and variables such as age, household size, and dispos-
able income, which may result from the research method (an online survey
accessed via social media).
The use of the food-sharing points and applications is limited by numer-
ous barriers, which was also indicated by the authors cited in this study.
These barriers may be: Technical (an inability to use the application and
the broadly understood phenomenon of digital exclusion, especially of the
elderly), sociocultural (shame, fear of being judged by others, limited trust
in partners/collaborators in the process of the food exchange), and organi-
zational (no such facilities available in the immediate vicinity). This study
also verifed the signifcance of various limitations to the use of food-sharing
solutions.
The most important barriers mentioned by the respondents included: A lack
of trust in the quality of this method of acquiring food (4.6 points on average,
with a maximum value of fve). This is especially true of food obtained from
the food-sharing points. In this case, the donor is unknown; the freshness of
the products can very often be verifed only with the help of one’s senses.
In the case of multi-ingredient products (ready meals, salads, and cakes), it is
also diffcult to identify the ingredients by solely relying on the senses and
avoid the ingredients that are not tolerated by the consumer (e.g., contain-
ing allergenic ingredients such as lactose, gluten, nuts, etc.). There is greater
confdence in the case of pre-packaged products, preferably in transparent
packaging.
The respondents also pointed to the fact that fnding the right product
(offer) requires time and energy (4.5). It takes time to reach the food-sharing
point and there is no guarantee of fnding the right products. Also, acquiring
food through the app can be time consuming. Both searching for the right
offer and picking up the product take time. And, even in this case, there is
no guarantee that it will be what the consumer is looking for. Restaurants,
bakeries, or other catering facilities often offer “food bags” without giving the
details of what is inside them.
Another barrier was a lack of this type of offer in the place of residence
(3.9), a lack of suffcient information about such solutions, i.e., an information
barrier (3.5). As mentioned earlier, food-sharing applications and points oper-
ate primarily in large cities.
The fear of judgment by others (3.3) was the least important barrier indi-
cated by the respondents. This is mainly because the inhabitants of large cities
feel anonymous.
table 14.7 Signifcance of Barriers to the Use of Food-Sharing Solutions by Gender

(Mann-Whitney test).
Gender
Specifcation Z p
Finding the right product (offer) requires time and energy 1.1169 0.264
Fear of judgment by others 0.3611 0.718
Lack of trust in the quality of this method of providing food −0.8956 0.370
Lack of this type of offer in the place of residence −1.6209 0.105
Lack of suffcient information about such solutions 0.5269 0.598
Source: Own research. Z = test value, p = statistical signifcance.
The respondents also had the opportunity to indicate their own limita-
tions not included in the survey query. They mentioned: Habit, concern for
the safety of others, and a lack of legal regulations, which makes it diffcult to
pursue one’s rights in the case of possible damage to health. The legal aspects
of obtaining food from one’s neighbors and other individuals (even famous
chefs), were discussed by Schwalb (2020) and Koch (2020).
This study also verifed whether sociodemographic variables differentiate
the importance of these barriers. It was checked whether the respondents’
gender was the differentiating variable. For this purpose, the Mann-Whitney
test (Table 14.7) was used.
There was no statistically signifcant difference between the aforemen-
tioned barriers and the gender of the respondents, as shown in Table 14.7.
Using Spearman’s rank correlation coeffcient, the relationship between the
barriers and other variables was also verifed (Table 14.8).
Also, in this case, no statistically signifcant correlation was found between
age, household size, and barriers preventing the use of the analyzed food-
sharing solutions. It should be emphasized that the analyzed barriers are
mostly complementary.
Some scientifc studies in this area focus on social barriers, including a lack
of trust. Falcone and Imbert (2017) point to social barriers to food sharing. In
turn, the research of Bielefeldt et al. (2016) shows that even if people have
a positive attitude towards the sharing economy (distributed-use economy),
many of them do not use any concrete solutions, which indicates a discrep-
ancy between attitudes and actual behavior. This is an additional challenge
for the researcher, as the research should not only focus on declarations but
table 14.8 Signifcance of Barriers to the Use of Food-Sharing Solutions by Age,

Household Size, and Disposable income (Spearman R).
Household Disposable
Age size income
Parameters R p R p R p
Finding the right product (offer) −0.202 0.139 −0.052 0.708 −0.044 0.753
requires time and energy
Fear of judgment by others −0.078 0.569 −0.146 0.288 −0.129 0.349
Lack of trust in the quality of this 0.183 0.181 −0.057 0.682 0.116 0.398
method of providing food
Lack of this type of offer in the 0.095 0.490 0.039 0.774 0.059 0.665
place of residence
Lack of suffcient information 0.075 0.587 0.215 0.115 −0.021 0.879
about such solutions
also investigate actual participation in the sharing process. However, because

sharing solutions also function outside the offcial organizational system, it is
diffcult to obtain reliable secondary data.
Lazell (2016) and Farr-Wharton et al. (2014) indicated a lack of social
relationships and a consequent lack of trust as the crucial barrier to food
sharing. Saginova et al. (2021) went even further and pointed to the feeling
of shame about using free food as a key barrier to participating in food shar-
ing. Thus, the dissemination of the sharing economy not only requires the
availability of pro-environmental solutions but, above all, the repositioning
of this phenomenon in public awareness and a change in social attitudes.
14.4 Conclusions
This research has shown that both food-sharing points and applications are
not very popular among the respondents. However, it is worth emphasizing
that the respondents who did not use them still perceived them as positive
solutions in the vast majority of cases. Cost reduction was the main reason for
using local food-sharing points and mobile applications. The second reason
was a concern for the environment. As it has been suggested in this chapter,
this area requires further in-depth research. Despite the fact that the majority of
respondents declared their acceptance of this type of solution, it does not mean
that they participate in the food-sharing process. This study has shown that the
main barrier preventing people from using food-sharing solutions is social, not
technological, as it involves a lack of trust. Interestingly, the sociodemographic
variables differentiated the reasons and barriers to using food-sharing points
and applications only to a limited extent. The only statistically signifcant dif-
ference was found in the reasons for using the analyzed solutions between
women and men. Women were more motivated than men by concern for the
environment and less than men by the desire to experience something new.
There was also a relationship between the level of disposable income and the
desire to reduce costs, i.e., the lower the level of disposable income, the higher
the need to reduce costs.
Research limitations: The limitation of this study was the uneven represen-
tation of all age groups in the research sample as well as a lack of represen-
tativeness of the research. Broader research on a representative sample of the
largest cities’ residents could provide better recognition of the current state of
the art and allow for applicable conclusions regarding the desired directions
of development of the sharing economy. Further research should be carried
out both through ethnography methods (as new media and modern techno-
logical solutions are increasingly being used in the sharing economy), as well
as in physical (real) space as not all consumers (especially the elderly) use
mobile applications and, even if they do, ultimately the food is handed over/
picked up in real space. A limitation that should be eliminated in subsequent
studies is the sole use of an Internet-based survey to collect empirical data as
this tool excludes those groups of respondents who do not use the Internet
or use it to a limited extent.
These fndings provide the following insight for future research and possible
applications: The dynamics of the development of the phenomenon of shar-
ing practices, including food sharing, require the implementation of cyclical,
interdisciplinary research employing various research methods and techniques.
Future studies should use an experiment and the SERVQUAL method to fnd
out to what extent the experiences of the respondents meet their expectations.
It would be benefcial to conduct cross-sectional research carried out at
an international level, e.g., in EU countries, and incorporate appropriate solu-
tions in consumer-protection legislation, or perhaps also in the common agri-
cultural policy. A practical implication of these research fndings is the need
to improve the ways of communicating various opportunities to participate
in food sharing to different groups of recipients. In the case of food-sharing
applications, it is useful to develop clear and consistent recommendation

systems. Balińska et al. (2021) showed that in the group of applications
encouraging ecological behavior, including sharing practices, the application
promoted in traditional media enjoyed the greatest recognition. This means
that developing a functional application is only part of the success. It is
extremely important to reach potential users with information about it and
encourage them to use it.
Undoubtedly, activities aimed at improving consumer awareness of the
possibility of sharing and taking advantage of surplus food are of primary
importance. Without raising awareness and encouraging appropriate behav-
ior in this area, neither food-sharing applications nor points will fulfl their
functions.
Deriving from the available sources and the results of the author’s own
empirical research presented in this chapter, as well as taking into account
specifc cultural patterns and technological solutions, the following model of
food sharing can be proposed (Figure 14.2).
Donor Recipient
Identification of food sharing as a

Identification of food surplus safe and attractive form of food
acquisition
Searching for the possibitity to

share the food Need for food
Searching for food avaliable

Selection of the optimal form of
through apps or in food-sharing
sharing
points
Food sharing Selection of shared food
End of process
Figure 14.2 Model of the Food-Sharing Process.

Source: Own study.
The food-sharing model in Figure 14.2 should only be treated as an inspi-

ration for further research. The development of food sharing can be inhibited
by various factors. The presented research showed that the most important
barrier is a lack of trust in the level of quality of the available food. Therefore,
it is important to both develop a recommendation system and effectively pro-
mote food-sharing practices. In the process of selecting information channels
to promote food-sharing solutions, potential users of different ages should
be taken into account, i.e., traditional media, digital media, or public space
should be used.
As indicated in this research report, the existing solutions in the feld of
food sharing (applications and food-sharing points) are developing in large
cities. This does not mean that food waste in small towns and villages is
not a problem and there are no people who would like to use such solu-
tions. In subsequent studies, it would be valuable to analyze the problem
of food sharing in small towns and villages. The development potential of
the food-sharing system in such places should differ from that in large cities.
The differences would not only refer to the logistic dimension of this type of
behavior but above all to the social and cultural dimensions. Therefore, the
planned research should take into account the unique cultural identity of local
communities.
note
1 Collaborative consumption consists of 3 systems: redistribution markets, a prod-
uct service system and collaborative lifestyles. This study focuses on the last of
these systems.
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Index
Page numbers in italics indicate a fgure and page numbers in bold indicate a table on the
corresponding page.
3PL, see third-party logistics (3PL) mobile, 304, 306–308, 310

public/private networks, 9
A quantitative methods, in reverse logistics,
87–88
access-based consumption, 310 seamless functioning, 311
advanced driver-assistance system sharing-economy practice, 213
(ADAS), 145 area intensity, urban/transport profle, 292
agglomeration, 303–319 artifcial intelligence, 33
Airbnb, 205, 303 algorithms, 38
air pollution, 180 cloud infrastructure, 236
Air Quality Index (AQI), 289 smart contract, 21
air transport, 33, 35, 39, 185, 222, 234, 251 SMART tools, 222
21st-century technologies, 39 automated driver system (ADS), 145
sustainability, 35 automated guided vehicle (AGV), 149
Amazon, 209 automated storage and retrieval systems
Amazon Air, 209 (AS/RS), 60
Amazon Flex, 209, 212 automated storage solutions, 60
Amazon Logistics, 209 device-control policy models, 60
Amazon Prime Air, 209 energy-effciency model, 60
American Potato Journal, 49 automatic daylighting controls, 59
Apple, 209 autonomous system management, 236
application, 6, 8–11, 20–23, 74, 201, 212, 222 autonomous vehicles, 29, 60, 140, 141, 143–151
blockchain, 5, 22–23 benefts/potential challenges, 150–151
digital technologies, 251 cost-effective, 151
energy-consumption monitoring features of, 143–145
process, 62 implementation of, 140, 145–146
food-sharing points, 313, 314, 316, maximized accuracy, 151
317, 318 minimizing errors, 151
innovative technology, 5 AutoStore, 149
327
328 ◾ Index
B central-warehouse model (CWM), 171, 172

Chief Inspectorate For Environmental
Bibexcel, 76 Protection, 289
bibliometric analysis, 44, 47, 57, 64, 65, Chips Fair America Act (US), 127
75–78, 90 circular economy (CE), 160, 170, 175
bibliometrics Cities and Mobility & Transportation, 286
analysis, 77 Citnetexplorer, 76
bibliographic coupling, 84 City Council of Pszczyna, 292
BibliometrixR, 76 city transport, 299
defnition of, 76 cleaner production, 88
Big Data, 21, 65, 147, 249, 251 climate change, fnancial risk of, 277
biomethane, 272 closed-loop
Bitcoin, 10, 11 logistics, 74, 86
blockchain, 14–16 remanufacturing, supply chain,
adoption of, 20 86–87
applications of, 5 supply-chain management, 74, 76,
challenges/barriers to adopting, 17–20 86–89, 229
decentralization, 9, 20 cloud APIs, 149
digitalization of, 18 co-citation analysis, 77, 80, 82, 91
as governance mechanism, 16–17 CO2 emissions, 58, 210
peer-to-peer transactions, 9 collaborative economy, 203, 309
supply chains, 11–14 collision-warning system, 298
technology, 5, 8–10 commodity chains, 110, 111, 120
virtual identity, 13 computer-assisted web interviewing
Brundtland Commission, 6 (CAWI), 312
Building Research Establishment container, 150, 266, 267, 277
Environmental Assessment capacity of, 281
Methodology (BREEAM), 63 shipping companies’ competitiveness, 266
business ethics, 63 coronavirus pandemic, 125, 126
buyer-oriented chains, 114–115 cost reduction factor, 315
Council of Supply Chain Management
C Professionals (CSCMP), 75, 106, 107
COVID-19 pandemic
cap-and-trade policies, on warehouse- crisis, innovations, 36–37
management, 63 global supply chains, 107, 108
carbon footprint, from value-chain inclusive and partly circular model
activities, 279 (IPCM), 174
carbon-neutrality, 272, 282 micro/small food-processing companies,
causal systems (CS), 119 157–159
CCTV cameras, 286 outbreak of, 102
Center for Science and Technology Studies supply shortages, 102
(CWTS), 48 transportation systems, in crisis, 34
Central Warehouse (CW), 163–165 co-word analysis, 48, 57, 84–88
cost of delivery, 172 cluster map, 85
delivery, 160 green operations/supply-chain
traders, 168 management, 88–89
central-warehouse delivery (CWD), 160, 168 quantitative methods, 87–88
Index ◾ 329
remanufacturing/closed-loop supply automated inventory system, 147

chain, 86–87 bin focus, 147
sustainability/waste management, 87 cleaning robot, 148
sustainable supply-chain concepts, 89 goods-to-person robot, 147
co-word cluster map, 58, 85 meerkat inventory robot, 147
crop prices, 180, 187, 191 narrow-aisle robots, 147
Cryogenic-Energy Storage (CES) pallet focus, 147
technology, 59 diagnostic-survey method, 251
cryptographic methods, 9 digital age, 249
current transport needs, 185, 188 digital blockchain, 12
customer service, 46, 142, 206, 228 digital cryptocurrency, 10
cutting-edge technologies, 29 digitalization, in transport, 227, 251
cyberattacks, 4 contributions, 259
defnitions, 250
D electronic-consignment-note
administration costs, 257
data loss, 21 functionalities, 253–254
DB Schenker, 146, 150, 152 future research, 259–260
decarbonization, 61, 266, 272, 276, 282 GreenTransit, electronic transport
carbon-neutral vessel, 281–282 documents, 254–259
on container-shipping companies’ greentransit platform, 252–254
competitiveness, 266 limitations, 259
ECO delivery product, 277–278 methodology, 251–252
emissions dashboard, 280–281 overview of, 247–248
end-to-end solution, 278 paper-consignment-note administration
footprint, 278–280 costs, 257
green fuels, 272–275 review of, 249–251
International Maritime Organization technology development, 211
(IMO), 268 transport implementation process,
Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre for authorizations for participating, 255
Zero Carbon Shipping, 275–277 digital transactions, 9
materials/methods, 270 digital transformation (DT), 249
Paris agreement, 268–270 directstore delivery (DSD), 169
research results, 271–277 business model, 169
star connect, 280 supply-chain issues, 171
theoretical background, 267 direct-store model (DSM), 171
Decent Work and Economic Growth, distributed ledger technology (DLT), 8
235, 239 distribution, 32, 44, 114, 116, 122, 126,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges 161, 170
Bauen (DGNB), 63 air distribution, 230
Development Strategy of City Pszczyna, 290 in Area of Green Warehouse, 56
DHL Express, 208 authors’ scientifc productivity, 52
DHL Freight, 208 digital information, 8
DHL Global Forwarding, 208 frozen food, 163
DHL Spaces, 210 Internet of Things solutions, 229, 236
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding, land distribution, 231
146–149 SMART distribution, 235, 237, 238
330 ◾ Index
sustainable distribution model, in food GSCM practices, 46

supply chain, 158 natural, 4, 6, 7, 32, 35, 260
and transparency, 4 sensors, 143
water distribution, 234 sharing economy, 204, 205
dual-fuel technology, 281 SMART systems, 237
social aspects, 7, 234, 237
E trust-free, 23
trustless, 11
E4Tech data, 35 turbulent, 31
EatWith, 310 Warehouse Automation, 60
e-CMR document, 258–260 World Commission on the Environment
ECO Delivery Product, 277–278 and Development, 222
ecological beneft, 228 Ethereum, 11
e-commerce service, 36, 209, 212 European Bank for reconstruction and
economic development, 7, 30, 112, 204, 213 development, 33
macro-micro gap research, 112 European Journal of Operational
socioeconomic development, 311 Research, 79
economic exchange, 127 European Union (EU), 189
economic growth, 31, 159, 174, 202, 204, agricultural production, 170
234, 238 Green Paper on Innovation, 32
economic power, 113, 120, 129 innovation, importance of, 31
effcient pricing, 183 exchange of information, 227, 252, 260
electric car batteries, 74 external cost, 179–188, 190–194
electricity consumption, 61, 63, 280 externally-dependent-city model (EDC), 295
emissions, see also CO2 emissions;
greenhouse gas (GHG) F
reductions, 224
-related costs, 46 Facebook, 209
-trading schemes (ETS), 87 Feasibility Study of Smart Transfer Hub, 288
energy consumption, 47, 58–62, 140, 150, feld methods, 161
152, 235, 282 food bags, 318
energy effciency, 224 food-exchange process, 304
Energy Effciency Operational Indicator food/meal-sharing apps, 307
2008, 271 food-processing
enterprise resource planning (ERP), 4, 258 companies, 158, 163
environment, 22, 180, 181, 183–185, 191, industry suppliers, 162
193, 316 food sharing, 303–304, 306–319
business operations, 58 food-sharing economy
design-for-environment, 58, 87 by age, household size, and disposable
ecologically oriented production, 86 income, 319
emission, of harmful substances, 255 applications, 313
energy conservation, 64 collaborative economy, components, 309
environmental ecosystems, 274 disposable income, 315
environmental-logistics strategies, 7 gender, barriers to use, 318
environmental management, 46 Kruskal-Wallis test, 316
global supply chains, 17 materials/methods, 312–313
green warehouse, 47 mobile apps, 307
Index ◾ 331
overview of, 303–308 COVID-19 pandemic, 107, 108, 140

process model, 322 design and management of, 129
reasons for using, 315 GVC approach, 117, 127, 130
research results/discussion, 313–319 sharing economy, 208
research stages, 312 global value chain (GVC), 102, 107, 112,
theoretical background, 308–312 116–119
total annual food waste, 305 approach, 106, 109–113, 123
Warsaw agglomeration, 303 buyer-oriented chains, 114–115
food-sharing points, 303, 304, 306–308, 313, effciency vs. orientors, 125
317, 320 implications, 117–129
food-sharing process, 322 initiative, 112
food waste, 305 manufacturer-oriented chains, 114
fourth-party logistics (4PL), logistics overview of, 102–103
providers, 207 production processes, fragmentation of,
fresh fruits and vegetables, 179, 180, 103–106
182–184, 189, 192, 194 SCM, comparison, 121
fruit and vegetable supply chain system, supreme orientors, 123
discussion, 190–192 uncertainties, challenges of, 106–109
research methods, 184–186 global warming, 63
results, 186–190 Good Health, 239
review of, 180–184 Google, 209
sustainable transport, 179 governance structures, 11, 16, 17, 22,
theory/practice, implications, 192–193 112, 120
fuel infrastructure, 274 captive value chains, 115
fuel price movements, 183 fragmentation, 117
fuel-production scaling, 274 in GCCs, 114
fuel-saving strategy, 38 in GVCs, 121
fuel supply chain, 274 hierarchies, 116
full-cost pricing, 182 markets, 115
full truckload (FTL), 210 modular value chains, 115
relational value chains, 115
G supply-chain, 23
GPS communication, 144
gas-pedal pressure, 298 Great Depression, 105
gender equality, 235 greenhouse gas (GHG), 44
genetic algorithm (GA), 62 emissions, 7, 44, 59–61, 63, 202, 267, 268,
Gephi, 76 269, 271, 275, 280
Getafe Terminal Logistics Centre, 230 warehouses, 63
gig economy, 203 green logistics (GL), 46, 74, 76, 268, 269,
global-commodity-chain (GCC) approach, 275–278, 281
102, 111 green marketing, 46
global fnancial crisis, 102 green storage management, 64
Global Logistics Emissions Council green supply chain (GSC), 44–46, 74, 87–89
(GLEC), 281 green supply-chain management (GSCM),
global supply chains, 5, 17, 19, 102, 103, 105, 44–46, 88, 91
109, 128 holistic approach, 46
autonomous vehicles, 140 sustainability, integration of, 45
332 ◾ Index
green sustainable-science technology, 51 inclusive and partly circular model (IPCM),

GreenTransit system, 248, 251, 258 171, 174
electronic transport documents, COVID-19 pandemic, 174
254–259 traders, strategic decision of, 174
platform, 252, 259 industrial goes green, 58
green warehouse (GW), 44, 45, 47–49, 50, industry 4.0, 249
51, 56 inequalities, 116, 117, 122, 127, 129
authors, by number of papers/citations, 52 commodity chains shape, 112
authorship/collaboration analysis, 52–54 distribution, of gain, 122
automation, on environmental issues, 60 economic structures, 113
bibliometric analysis, 44 information, 21
bibliometric indicators, 50, 65 world systems, 110
building construction/design concerning information and communication
environmental impact, 58–60 technologies (ICT), 105, 222
carbon footprint, 61 innovations, 17, 19, 23, 29–37, 235,
co-word cluster map, 58 239, 311
data collection/research tasks, 48–49 aviation sector, 33–38, 34
energy effciency, 61–62 COVID-19 Crisis, 35, 36–37
green supply chains, environmental decarbonization, 282
impact of, 46, 47 defnition of, 31
logistics operations, 44 economic growth, 31
methods/analysis tools, 47–48 Green Paper on Innovation, 32
papers, top ten, 53 GrrenTransit system, 258
research areas, 51, 57–58 ICT revolution, 105
scientifc journals, 54 importance, 31
sustainable management, 63 innovative technology, 5, 8, 11, 22, 141
theory/practice, implications, 63–65 marketing, 32
organizational, 32
H process, 31
product, 31
hacking attacks, 236 supply-chain transformation, 276
Haute Qualité Environnementale (HQE), 63 theoretical background, 30–32
HistCite, 76 transport sector, 32–33
human-factor challenges, 236 Institute of Supply Management (ISM), 108
Integrated Transfer Hub, 295, 296, 298
I average use, 294
big infrastructure investments, 295
IESE Cities in Motion: International urban modern, 296
best practices, 286 in Pszczyna, 293
immiserizing growth, 117 tourist-and-visitor stream passing, 295
implications, for GVC Intelligent Transport System (ITS), 286
framework, 117–119 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
nation-states, role of, 125–129 Change, 269, 271
orientors, as normative references, International Air Transport Association
122–125 (IATA), 35
power/value distribution, asymmetries, International Journal of Advanced
120–122 Manufacturing Technology, 55
Index ◾ 333
International Journal of Production Logistics Social Responsibility (LSR), 7

Research, 55, 79 Long-Term Financial Prognosis, 296
International Maritime Organization (IMO),
266–269 M
International Warehouse Logistics
Association, 63 machine learning, 21, 33
Internet of Things (IoT), 147, 149, 221, Maersk Mc-Kinney Centre, 275, 276, 277
222, 230 Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre for Zero
advantages, multitude of, 236 Carbon Shipping, 275, 282
autonomous vehicles, 147 Malaysian economic growth, 159
characteristic of, 227 malfunction, 4
McKinsey report, 236 Mann-Whitney test, 313, 314, 318
technologies, dynamic development manufacturer-oriented chains, 114
of, 229 Marine Environment Protection Committee
ISO 14001 certifed organizations, 87 (MEPC), 269
IT infrastructure, 222 material-fow accounts, 185
material-handling
J equipment, 62
processes, 62
JIT automatic purchasing systems, 168 McKinsey report, 109, 236
JIT model, 165 micro/small food-processing companies,
Journal of Cleaner Production (JCP), 54, 55, 157, 158, 169, 175
79–80, 89 central-warehouse model (CWM), 172
critical review of, 159–161
K direct-store model (DSM), 171
implications, for theory/practice, 170–175
keyword-frequency analysis, 85 inclusive and partly circular model
Kruskal-Wallis test, 312, 316, 316 (IPCM), 173
people’s research, 168–170
L research method, 161–162
research objective, 158–159
Leadership in Energy and Environmental results, 162–168
Design (LEED), 63 supply chain, constant modernization
less than truckload (LTL), 210 of, 157
Leximancer, 76 triple bottom line (TBL) theory, of social
life-cycle analysis (LCA), 61 responsibility, 176
life-cycle assessment (LCA), 87 Microsoft, 209
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), 143 MobiCarnet platform, 258
line haul transportation, 144 mobile apps, 307
logistics models, 74, 167, 170, 171, 174, 177 Mobility Quality, in Pszczyna, 296
direct-to-store delivery/central-warehouse monetary-valuation method, 190
delivery, 160
optimal logistics models, 158 N
Logistics Models Analysis combinations
(LMAC) net-zero-emission technologies, 270, 272
direct-store model, 171 net-zero-energy building design, 61
structural effectiveness, 171 net-zero fuel techniques, 271
334 ◾ Index
net-zero shipping, 275 real transport

net-zero solutions, 278 deviation of, 183–184
net-zero transformation, 276 needs, 185, 188
New Cold War, 122, 128 recycling, 228–229
Nippon Express, 146, 149–150, 152 redesigning the city model (RDC), 295
normative orientor, 121, 122 Regional Data Bank of the Statistics of
novel digital sharing-economy platform, 209 Poland, 288
renewable energy, 16, 59, 61, 64, 226
O renewable energy sources (RES), 59
reverse logistics (RL), 45, 74–80, 82, 84–90,
Old Globalization, 104 228
on-demand economy, 203 bibliographic coupling, 84
online sales, 44 co-citations analysis, 80–83
original-equipment manufacturer (OEM), 86 co-citations cluster map, 83
complexity of, 74
P data analysis, 79–80
data collection, 77–78
Pajek, 76 definitions, 75–76
Paris Agreement, 267, 268–270 papers, productive authors, 81
platform economy, 203 productive journals, 79–80
platooning, 145 research methodology, 76–77
Polish Cities of the Future 2050, 286 subject areas, 78
Polish Road Transport Institute, 252 top ten papers, 82
Polish State Railways (PKP), 296 value (supply) chain diagram, as
post-COVID-19 era, 266 economic system, 118
private markets, 111 RFID Tunnel Gate, 149
procurement marketplaces, 206 rigorous bibliometric tools, 74
production/logistics process, trackability road transport, 33
of, 4 robotics, 33
Proof-of-Work (PoW), 10 Russian aggression, in Ukraine, 102
PTV Map&Guide internet, 186
publications S
authors, distribution by country, 56
citations/number, 50 SARS-CoV-2 proliferation, 108
by country/research center, 55–57 Scopus databases, 48, 77
institutions, authors, 56 self-reliant-city model, 295
sources, 54–55 shared-warehouse business model, 211
trend, 49–51 sharing economy, 203, 204
public health programs, 179 Amazon, 209
public markets, 111, 120 approach, 206
public welfare concern, 181 characteristics, 203
Purchasing Social Responsibility (PSR), 7 definition of, 310
DHL International GmbH, 208
R DHL spaces case study, 209–210
vs. economic growth and development,
Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR), 143 204–206
rail transport, 192 in global supply chain, 208
Index ◾ 335
materials/methods, 207–208 social responsibility, triple bottom line

model, 202, 209 (TBL) theory, 175
overview of, 202 social software, 249
possible impacts of, 205 social well-being, 32
practices, 202 socioeconomic development, 311
shared-warehouse business model, 211 soil pollution, 180
vs. supply-chain industry, 206–207 Standardized Energy-Consuming Activities
supply-chain network, 207 (SECA) scheme, 62
theoretical background, 202 Statistical Offce of the Republic of Slovenia
transport sharing, 210–212 (SORS), 185
Uber Freight/Amazon Flex case studies, Stock’s white paper, 77
210–212 storage, 24, 32, 59–61, 164, 166–168, 303
Uber Technologies Inc., 208–209 automated, 48, 60
warehouse sharing, 209–210 AutoStore, 149
shipping documents, 254 controlled conditions of, 166
Slovenian products, 187 costs of traders, 168
smart city, 286, 306 Cryogenic-Energy Storage (CES)
Smart City ISO 37120, 286 technology, 59
smart contracts, 13, 21 and delivery, 177
artifcial intelligence, 21 food 305
legality of, 19 GHG emissions, 63
pre-agreed rules, 13 Green, 64
software solutions, 10 information, 105
SMART logistics, 228 seasonal products, 210
analyzed solutions, review of, 231–232 services, from logistics networks, 206
ecological planet, 224 temperature, 163
economic proft, 223 transportation, 273
goals importance, 234 strategic marketing variable, 181
implemented solutions, in case research, suburban areas, 292, 294
233 supply chain (SC), 3–8, 74–77, 86–90,
objective of, 221 105–109, 140–147, 306
people’s research, 235–236 blockchain, 11–14
research method, 229–230 business, 202
results, 230–235 challenges/barriers to adopting, 17–20
smart solutions, 227–229 concept, 107
social people, 223 Council of Supply Chain Management
sustainable-development goals Professionals (CSCMP), 75
achievement model, 237 COVID-19 pandemic, 108
sustainable development vs. triple defnition, 141–142
bottom line and logistics, 222–227, DHL Supply Chain, 147–149
225–227 economic system, 118
theory/practice implications, 236–239 food supply chain, 158–160
SMART solutions, 227, 229, 230, 235, 237 globalization of, 4, 102, 103, 107
SMART tools, mass-scale development, 222 green supply-chain management (GSCM),
Smith’s Theorem, 104 44–46, 88
social barriers, 319 green warehouse, 47
social refrigerators, 307 information sharing, 4, 203
336 ◾ Index
micro/small companies, 174–175 technology, 8–10

partnerships, 160 transformation, 12
risk management, 88 Sustainable Logistics Initiatives (SLI), 63
sharing economy, 206–207 sustainable supply-chain management
SMART technology, 236 (SSCM), 5, 8, 142
sustainability, 6–8, 89 sustainable supply chains (SSC), 142
transformation, 12, 276 SWOT analysis, 186, 192
supply-chain management (SCM), 120, 121, systems thinking, 160
123, 125, 127, 128, 141
approach, 103 T
bibliometric methodology, 76
blockchain, 5, 20 T5 fuorescent lighting, 59
challenges of, 106–109 tamper-resistant ledger, 14
COVID-19 pandemic, 103 Task Force on Climate-related Financial
global supply chains, 102, 105–106 Disclosures, 267
green operations, 88–89 telematics, 287–289, 295–298
green supply-chain management, 46 telematic transformation time
GVC approach, 113–117 mobility/collective passenger
impacting process, 14 transport, 297
neoclassical economics, 122 overview of, 285–288
processes, 222 smart telematic solutions, 295–298
sharing economy, 206–207 urban area harmonized, organization of
sustainability, 6, 90 transportation, 288–291
survey questionnaire, 312 urban/transport profle, 292–295
sustainability, 4, 30, 51, 54, 63, 87–90, Theory of Economic Development, The, 30
168–170 third-party logistics (3PL)
and blockchain, 14–16 automation, levels of, 146
economic, 175 case-study analysis, 143–145
environmental sustainability, 267, 270, 276 DB Schenker, 150
full-cost pricing, 182 logistics providers, 207
green logistics, 275 logistics trend radar, 148
logistics and supply chains, 6–8, 44 Nippon Express, 149–150
supply-chain, 88 overview of, 140–141
and waste management, 87 provider, 142–143
Sustainable Alternative jet Fuels (SAF) supply chain, 141–142
greenhouse-gas emissions, 38 Thouzer, 149
strategy, 35 TITLE-ABS-KEY, 77
sustainable business, 46 tourism/strategic innovation, 185
sustainable-development goals (SDGs), 204 TOWS matrix, 186, 192
sustainable distribution, logistic, 221–240 T-Pod, 150
sustainable logistics traffc, 287–295, 299
blockchain, 11–16 accident, 44, 140, 151, 152, 180
challenges, overcoming, 20–22 safety, 185
conceptual foundation, 10–11, 11 signs, 144
future development, 22–23 transit vehicular, 287
as governance mechanism, 16–17 transportation systems, 87, 285, 286, 288,
supply chains, 6–8, 17–20 289, 298
Index ◾ 337
ability to guarantee, 29 vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication,

aviation sector, 33–38, 34 143, 144
background, 30–32 very-low-sulphur-fuel oil (VLSFO), 281
COVID-19 Crisis, 36–37 village-level economies, 104
innovations, 32–33 VOSviewer, 48, 57, 76
SAF, greenhouse-gas emissions, 38
transport implementation process, W
authorizations for participating, 255
transport-management systems (TMS), 258, warehouses, 140, 144, 161, 166–168, 171,
298 253, 254, 258, see also Central
transport-route, 191 Warehouse (CW); green warehouse
transport-shipping-logistics (TSL) industry, (GW)
222, 258 automation on environmental issues, 60
transport solutions, 227–228 automobile, 147
traveling-salesman problem (TSP), 62, 224 carbon footprint, reduction of, 61, 65
triple bottom line (TBL) theory, 225–227 energy effciency, 61–62
concept of, 202, 223, 224 optimization of, 58–60
environmental, societal, and economic sharing business practices, 202,
value creation, 7 209–212
public and private sectors, 213 space, 207
social responsibility, 175 sustainable management, 63
sustainable supply chains, 4 worker costs, 210
“trustless” database, 5 Warsaw, food-sharing points, 308
waste elimination, 88
U waste management, 7, 74, 87–89
waste reduction, 224
Uber driver, 205 water distribution, 230
Uber Freight, 212 water pollution, 180
Uber Technologies Inc., 211 water transport, 33, 230
UNEP Food Waste Index Report, 304 Web of Science (WoS) database, 48, 49, 76,
United Nations, 204 77, 204, 266
Agenda for Sustainable Development Well-Being, 239
(2030), 224, 237, 306 wind energy, renewable energy
Framework Convention on Climate sources, 61
Change (UNFCCC), 268–269 World Commission on the Environment and
Global Compact, 269 Development, 222
sustainable-development goals, 234 World Health Organization, 108
World’s Top 100 Airports 2020, 33
V
Z
vegetables, 179, 180, 182–184, 189, 192, 194,
see also fresh fruits and vegetables; Zakopane, 294
fruit and vegetable supply chain Zentrum Liberale Moderne, 126

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Sustainable Logistics

Edited by Joanna Domagała, Aleksandra Górecka,

List of Figures ................................................................................. vii

SeCtion i innoVAtiVe AnD SUStAinABLe LoGiStiCS:

2 Modern Transportation Systems: The Field for Innovations

3 Green Warehousing: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review 43

4 Reverse Logistics for Sustainable Waste-Management

SeCtion ii SUStAinABLe SUPPLY-CHAin MAnAGeMent

6 Intelligent Solutions in the Supply Chains: Challenges

7 Sustainability Requirements for Micro and Small

8 Sustainable Transport in the Fruit and Vegetable

9 The Application of the Concept of Sharing Economy

SeCtion iii SUStAinABLe LoGiStiCS:

11 Digitalization in Transport: An Example of Transport

12 Going Green: The Effects of Decarbonization on

13 The Organization of Transportation: City Rhythm and

14 Food-Sharing Economy: Analysis of Selected Solutions

1.1 A Conceptual Framework for Blockchain-Based Sustainable

2.1 The Examples of Innovations in the Aviation Sector 34

10.3 Achievement of Sustainable-Development Goals Resulting from

Wojciech J. Florkowski, PhD

In a globalized world with complex businesses, logistics is perceived as the

The book is an excellent example of a combination of academic knowl-

Altuğ Murat Köktaş

Sustainable logistics is an important issue, which has caught the attention of

revolutionize the supply chain by eliminating the intermediaries and, conse-

Joanna Domagała, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of

Monika Roman, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Logistics,

Aleksandra Górecka, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of

economic development. She participated in more than 30 mobilities (e.g.,

Maria Bajak is an assistant at the Department of Marketing of the Cracow

Agata Balińska, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Economics

Sandra Bonča, PhD, holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics

Zoran Ježić, PhD, is an associate professor, at the Faculty of Economics

Development. He is a regular member and chairman of the Supervisory Board

Irena Jędrzejczyk, PhD, is a full professor of economic science. She has

Oskar Juszczyk is a PhD student in the Industrial Management Department

Leonardo Lovričić is a master of economics in International Business with

the highlight on blockchain technologies and environmentally responsible

Marko Lukavac is a PhD student at the Faculty of Economics and Business,

Dejan Miljenović, PhD, is an assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics

Helga Pavlić Skender, PhD, is an associate professor at the Faculty of

Michał Pietrzak is a full professor at Warsaw University of Life Sciences,

management, organizational learning, and logistics. His consultancy experi-

Piotr Pietrzak, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Warsaw University of Life

Elizabeta Ribarić holds a master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics

Adam Sadowski, PhD, is an associate professor in logistics at the Institute

Khuram Shahzad, PhD, is an assistant professor of Digital Innovation

Sebastian Stolarczyk holds a bachelor’s degree in logistics from Warsaw

the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. He is a cofounder of the start-up

Andrej Udovč is a full professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural

Petra A. Zaninović, PhD, is a researcher and teaching assistant, Faculty

innovative and Sustainable

comprehensible and solid enough to ensure trust. Consequently, the future-

of blockchain in sustainable supply chains together with the proposition of

1.2 Literature Review

1.2.1 Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chains

product liabilities, as well as pollution and waste management.” Interestingly,

Carter and Rogers (2008) defne sustainable supply-chain management (SSCM)